


Becoming Parents

by ravenclawalumni_2010



Series: The Story of Tony Stark and Stephanie Rogers [3]
Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Character Deaths, Childbirth, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, Forgiveness, Grief/Mourning, Implied Relationships, Makeup Sex, Parenthood, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Stephanie Rogers/Tony Stark - Freeform, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:35:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28684170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenclawalumni_2010/pseuds/ravenclawalumni_2010
Summary: The prequel to Between Two Universes. This is the story of how Steph and Tony forgave each other for what happened in the past and how their daughter Natasha was conceived and born.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: The Story of Tony Stark and Stephanie Rogers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791826
Kudos: 11





	1. Forgiving One Another

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to Between Two Universes. In the couple of my last chapters, I explained that Tony and Steph had a child together, and this is the story of how that child came to be.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it, but please no flames. Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Stephanie was not sure if she wanted to go through with this. It had been a little over a year since she last saw Tony, and they did not necessarily part ways on the best of terms with Tony blaming her for their loss against Thanos. She was, of course, really hurt by it, but she understood the hurt and where Tony was coming from at the same time, so she just took it and let him release all his rage on her because she felt as if she deserved it. To face him after that and all the time that has passed since they last talked made her uncomfortable, but for the sake of her friends and those that lost their lives, Steph decided to swallow any fear or uncomfortable feelings she had towards Tony and face him. It had been a little over a year since the Avengers’ devastating loss against Thanos and for the first time in that time, Steph felt hopeful at being able to set things right when Scott Lang came to their doorstep. Steph did not think it was possible, and the idea of it just sounded crazy, but it gave her reason to believe that they could set things right; however, only one person had enough brains to come up with the technology to do this crazy idea and that was Tony Stark. She just hoped that Tony was willing to talk to them and listen to their idea.

Steph, Scott, and Natasha were driving on their way to the cabin out by the lake where they knew Tony lived with Steph in the driver’s seat and Natasha in the front passenger seat. As they were driving up there, Steph began to wonder what would happen when they got there. Would Tony even hear them out? Was he still angry at her that he wouldn’t even be willing to listen and hear out their plan? Would he even be mad at her as he was last year? Or would he even be at home? There were so many things that could happen, and it was making Steph anxious the closer they got to Tony’s house.

She wished she would have contacted Tony a little more in the last year, maybe talk a little more about what has happened to them for the past couple of years and maybe even give him that apology she has been meaning to give him face-to-face. If she was being quite honest with herself, though, she was too scared to. Yes, the great Captain America is able to face an entire army of men, robots, and alien race without fear, but when it came to her romantic relationships, she was a damn coward. Natasha, whose hair had gotten a lot longer now with it being past below her shoulders and her blonde highlights beginning to fade, could sense Steph’s anxiety, for she was giving her a concerned look.

“It’s going to be okay, Steph,” she said. “He’s not as angry as you think he is.”

Steph only responded with a nod, not sure if she should believe her or not. She did not want to give herself false hope only for her hopes to be shattered if Tony  _ was _ in fact angry with her and didn’t wish to speak to her.

“Whose not angry?” Scott asked them, obviously hearing Natasha. The latter turned back to him and gave him a knowing look, and that is when Scott realized what she was referring to, his eyes lightening up as if he just discovered something. “Ohhh, you are referring to the Cap and Stark…? Right, yeah, that’s definitely gonna be an awkward reunion. That’s gotta be weird, right? Having to go to your ex for help?”

What Scott was saying was not helping Steph in the slightest and just making her more nervous. Natasha knew it too, for she was giving Scott a look that told him to shut up.

“What?” Scott asked when he saw the look. “I’m just asking! It has to be awkward for her.”

Natasha rolled her eyes in response while Steph just sighed and said, “I’ve been in worse awkward situations.”

The rest of the ride was quiet as Steph continued driving up to Tony’s house. About fifteen minutes after it got quiet, they finally pulled up to the dirt driveway of Tony’s house, and they could see that Tony was home, for one of his black sports cars was in the driveway. Looking to the left, they could see Tony walking up the stairs of the cabin to head inside, but he stopped and turned around when he saw the car pulling up in the driveway. When they all stepped out of the car, Steph could see that Tony was holding something in his arms and realized a second later that it wasn’t a something but a someone: a little boy who looked about four or five years old and had dark brown hair and green eyes. Seeing the little boy in Tony’s arms, Steph wondered who that little boy was and if he was Tony’s. She knew that Tony started dating a model after her. Could this little boy perhaps be their child that they had together? He looked old enough to be their child. If so, where was the mother? Was she even around? Just thinking of those thoughts filled Steph with regret and believing now that she was never going to have that future with Tony now.

Once Tony saw them step out of the car, he gave them a surprised look, his eyes lingering more on Steph with a look of longing as well as a hurt look on his face. His eyes landed on Natasha who gave him a nod of her head as if telling him she was waiting for his permission to approach, and Tony gave a nod of his own in response before heading inside the house. Steph was not sure what that meant, if that meant they could approach, but she assumed it was okay for them to approach, for Natasha nudged with her head towards the house and began walking towards the house, so Steph and Scott followed suit.

After Tony took the little boy inside the house, he came back out with Pepper, who apparently visited his house often, and they both brought out tea to serve to all three of them. Both Pepper and Steph greeted each other with rather strained smiles, but other than that, they were pleasant with each other. Scott may have thought that seeing her ex after a while to request help was awkward, but seeing Pepper was a whole other level of awkward, especially after revealing something to her over a year ago.

“Do you know what’s really sad?” she said to Steph after Tony was put in the hospital ward of the facility when he collapsed. “There was a moment in time where I wished he loved me as much as he loves you, but overtime, I began to accept that he will always love you, and what I want more than anything now is for him to be happy.” Steph looked at Pepper in surprise before the latter continued, “I lost my chance of being with him again when you came into the picture. Do yourself and Tony a favor: don’t lose that chance of being with him, if you still love him.”

Well, Steph did not really do what Pepper suggested she do. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, it was mainly because she felt she didn’t deserve to be with Tony after what she did. With the amount of time that has passed since then, it made her wonder if Pepper had any ill feelings towards her for not reaching out to Tony. Judging from the disappointed look she sent her way, Steph could only assume that she did. After the rather awkward greeting, Pepper headed back inside while Tony served them tea and listened to their plan.

“We know what it sounds like,” Scott said after he was done explaining having been in the quantum realm for an hour and the plan they had.

“Tony, after everything you’ve seen, is anything really impossible?” Steph asked him, speaking to him for the first time.

“Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale which then triggers the Deutch Proposition, can we all agree on that?” Tony asked in response. He then handed Steph a cup of tea to which she thanked him for and turned his attention to Scott. “In layman’s terms, it means you’re not coming home.”

“I did,” Scott replied.

“No, you accidentally survived,” Tony replied. “It’s a billion-to-one cosmic fluke, and now you wanna pull a…what do you call it?”

“A time heist.”

“Yeah, a time heist, of course,” Tony said in a disbelieving tone like it was the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard. “Why didn’t we think of this before? Oh, because it’s laughable. Because it’s a pipe dream.”

“The stones are in the past,” Steph said, interrupting Tony. “We could go back, we could get them.”

“We can snap our own fingers, we can bring everyone back,” Natasha said.

“Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?” Tony said, and Steph knew he was referring to Thanos.

“I don’t believe we would.”

“Gotta say it, I sometimes miss that giddy optimism.”

Steph was not sure if Tony was being sarcastic when he said that, and she looked to Natasha who only shrugged in response. She was going to assume he was being sarcastic, even though she could have sworn she saw him smile a bit when he said that. Or was she just wishful thinking?

“However,” Tony continued, “high hopes won’t help if there’s no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist.” He said this as he sat in the chair behind him. “I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise.”

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel,” Scott argued as he approached Tony from where he was standing and sat in the chair right beside him. “It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sports events—”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Scott,” Tony interrupted him with a hand raised before leaning forward. “Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?”

“No,” Scott said with a scoff.

“Good, you had me worried there ‘cause that would be horseshit,” Tony said. “That’s not how quantum physics works.”

“Tony,” Natasha said.

She spoke in such a tone that sounded pleading, and Steph had rarely ever heard her use that tone before, except for during the events of the Civil War. Steph looked to Natasha to see her giving Tony a pleading look as if begging him to help them.

“We have to take a stand.”

Steph knew that Natasha was hit the hardest after the snap, knowing that she lost someone who was really close to her and who she considered her bestest friend, but not because he vanished. Clint Barton, who had lost his entire family due to the snap, had since disappeared and gone on a murdering spree against gangs, thugs, and other low-lives who had survived the snap. While some of the remaining Avengers had judged him for it, Natasha did not and Steph could understand, even if she did not like what Clint was doing.

“We did stand, and yet here we are,” Tony said.

“I know you feel like you got a lot on the line, but I lost someone very important to me,” Scott said. “A lot of people did and now,  _ now _ we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back, and you’re telling me that you won’t even—”

“That’s right, Scott, I won’t even,” Tony interrupted. “I can’t.”

Steph could see the fear in Tony’s eyes and detect it in his tone as well, and she could understand where he was coming from, knowing it was he that had fought Thanos in space and lost. Steph had fought against his entire alien army and his children, even fighting against him one-on-one for a moment, and she could understand why Tony was afraid of him. Even with the serum running through her veins, Thanos was strong and she was no match against him.

There was the sound of the backdoor to the inside of the house opening and closing, and the little boy that they all saw earlier came running towards Tony.

“Come play superhero with me!” he demanded as he tugged at Tony’s hand. “Aunt Pepper says she is too busy.”

“You want to play superhero again, lil’ buddy?” Tony asked and the little boy nodded. “Alright, let’s go play superhero.”

He got up from his seat and picked up the little boy in his arms. Steph could not help but think how he seemed to be a natural at being a father, and she was once again reminded of how she will never have that with him now. Tony then turned his attention to her and the others after he picked up the little boy.

“I wish you were here to ask me something else,” he said. “I’m honestly happy to see you guys, I just…I can’t.”

And Steph knew there was no changing his mind. Once his mind was made up, there was no use in trying to convince him, he had to come on his own. Not to mention, she could see that he was scared, and Steph was not going to force him to face something that he was too scared to face.

“You guys are more than welcomed to stay for lunch. And, Steph?”

Steph looked at Tony in the eye when he called her name. She could see him opening his mouth as if wanting to say something important to her, but then closed his mouth as if he thought better of it and gave her a small, sad smile.

“It was nice seeing you again,” he said.

He walked away and went back inside of the house with the little boy, but not before offering them to have lunch with him again. However, no one followed Tony into his house to accept his offer, even though Steph desperately wanted to. Not just to be in his presence, but to comfort and ease his fears. She wasn’t sure if he would even want her to, so she, Natasha, and Scott headed back to the car. Before they left, Steph felt compelled to say something to Tony, something she wanted to say when she saw the little boy run up to him but was too afraid to in front of Natasha and Scott. Deciding to swallow any fear she had, she walked back towards the house, telling Natasha and Scott to wait inside the car. Scott gave her a confused look while Natasha gave her an encouraging smile before telling Scott to get in the car.

Steph came to the front door and knocked, waiting for someone to answer. As she waited, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm her erratic heartbeat and reminded herself that she was brave and could do this. It would be the closure that she needed in order to move on. The door opened and Steph saw the face of Tony who gave her a surprised look when he saw it was her who knocked.

“Steph, is everything alright?” he asked.

There was something in the concerned way he asked that question that made Steph want to pull him in and kiss him, but she held herself back. It was not appropriate to do so since they were no longer together.

“Everything is fine, Tony, there is just something I wanted to say,” Steph replied as she wrung her hands and bit her lip nervously. “Something I couldn’t say in front of the others…”

A look of understanding dawned on Tony’s features when Steph said that as she gave him a knowing look. He looked towards the inside of the house before stepping outside, closing the door behind him. Both of them stared at each other for a little while, neither one of them saying anything to each other, and Tony at one point held his hand out as if to touch her but stopped himself before he did. Meanwhile, Steph kept her hands to her side, trying her best not to reach out to him.

“I, um,” Tony started as he rubbed the back of his head, “I wanted to say this earlier, but Tiny Man was too busy telling me about his little Time Heist: you look good, Steph, short hair is a good look on you.”

“Thanks,” Steph said with a small, sad smile as she played with the end of her hair that was now an inch past below her shoulders. “You don’t look too bad yourself, certainly a lot better than last year when I last saw you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been eating a lot more lately now,” Tony said. “Being stranded out in space and nearly starving to death definitely makes me appreciate food a lot more.”

There was a bit of a strained smile on his face as he was no doubt going over the memories of being stuck in space. There was another awkward silence between them, and Steph found herself realizing how much she missed Tony and still loved him. This is why doing this was going to be hard for her, but she had to do it, if she wanted to move forward in her life.

“Listen, I know I’m way past due this and I should have done this in person instead of in a letter and I don’t expect you to forgive me for it,” she began.

“Steph, you don’t have to—”

“Please, Tony, let me say this.”

Maybe it had more to do with the pleading tone Steph spoke in, but after a moment or two, Tony finally nodded, allowing Steph to continue.

“I should have told you the truth about your parents from the start, but I didn’t. I have no one to blame but myself for what happened between us and even though a part of me wishes we could work out, I understand that we are beyond that point now.”

Tony stared at Steph with a shocked expression on his face, but he did not say anything. Whether it was because he was rendered speechless or he just didn’t want to say anything, Steph did not know for sure, but she continued on.

“I get it, Tony, I understand why you don’t want to do this, but I hope you understand that this is our chance to get everyone back and I’m not going to let it slip. I only hope that you are happy with your new family.”

Tony looked confused at the last words Steph said, but a look of clarity came on his face a second later, and he looked between her and the house where the little boy was no doubt playing inside. He opened his mouth to say something, but Steph did before he could.

“Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. I’ll just…just get out of your hair and let you get back to your son. I’ll, um, I’ll see you around, Tony.”

And Steph turned on her heel and walked away before Tony could even say anything, the latter watching her leave with the shocked expression on his face still. As she walked away, Steph felt a tear run down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away, not wanting Natasha and Scott to see that she was crying, even though she knew that Natasha would probably be able to tell. Steph finally did what she should have done years ago, even if it was too late to make amends with Tony, and she was proud of herself for it. It had hurt to do that, but she can now at least move forward in her life.

“You okay?” Natasha asked her after she got in the car and was quiet, not starting the car right away.

“I will be,” Steph replied, and Natasha gave her an empathetic look. “Come on, let’s go find Bruce.”

* * *

It’s been hours since Steph, Natasha, and Scott left, but the impact they left had Tony thinking not only about their plan they had to bring everyone back but of Steph as well. Of the words she said to him right before she left. So, she still loved him. She had pretty much confessed that with her words, and a part of Tony was happy at hearing that and he wanted to go after her, but another part of Tony was not sure if he should, feeling as if he did not deserve her after the way he spoke to her last year, and that is what was holding him back.

Ever since Amber, his girlfriend he had after Steph, had vanished and he began taking care of her son Colin, Tony felt like he found a new purpose in his life. After seeing Steph again, though, it was like he was being blasted into the past and reminiscing on what could have been if things had been different. He wanted to correct her, let her know that Colin was not his son, but she walked away before he even could.

Truth was, he was ready to get back with Steph prior to the arrival of Thanos’ invasion. Having forgiven her in the past already, he woke up one day and realized that he was still in love with Steph and wanted to be with her, Sokovian Accords be damned, but he realized that he was going to have to break up with Amber as a result. Tony thought how it was going to be a big disappointment to Colin who Tony had grown fond of, but at the time, he had to do it for the sake of his own happiness. Then Thanos’ children had showed up, and Tony ended up following one of them into space to fight Thanos, and he had lost. When he was rescued by Danvers and brought back to Earth, he had ended up blaming Steph in his anger for what happened. He knew he had hurt her, for he could see it in her face and she did not even say goodbye to him when he left the Avengers’ facility a year ago. He felt like not only he suffered a great loss at losing people he cared for, but at losing his chance with her then and there. Now, over a year later, Steph came back charging in his life and gave him hope again, something he thought he had lost over a year ago.

God, he really did miss that annoying giddy optimism of hers.

After solving on how to do the Time Heist plan and putting Colin back to bed, he went to Pepper who was sitting in the living room reading a book.

“I know that kid is not mine, but I swear, he’s becoming more like me as the days go by,” he said to her.

“Really?” Pepper said with an amused smile on her face towards Tony and looked back down at her book. “If only Amber knew how much of a bad influence you are being on her son.”

“I think she would appreciate having a genius for a son,” Tony replied.

Pepper only chuckled in response. Tony looked back to the hologram of the time machine he was working on and had completed before Colin came down, having woken up from the remnants of a nightmare. He stared at the hologram for sometime before he finally turned to Pepper.

“I figured it out,” he said, and Pepper only looked up at him in confusion, obviously not knowing what he was referring to. “I figured out the time travel.”

“What?” Pepper said in a shocked tone, her eyes wide in shock. “Wow, that’s, uh, that’s amazing and terrifying.”

“Yeah, it is,” Tony said as he sat on the opposite end of the couch, staring into the fireplace.

“You know, there are some people like us who got really lucky, but a lot of people didn’t,” Pepper spoke up.

“Well, I can’t help everybody,” Tony responded. “I just wish Steph will learn this too.”

“It kind of seems like you can.”

“Not if I stop. I can put a pin in it right now and stop, and maybe finally move on from loving Stephanie Rogers…”

“Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life, and I’m very sure Steph can attest to that as well,” Pepper said.

Tony turned to her and smiled at her in response. They may have broken up years ago, but Tony had eventually looked to Pepper as a sister and they developed a bond that could be described as close friends that were more like family than anything else. He really appreciated her, for she was there for him and he for her, and he trusted her with his life and his company. Steph knew about this and understood the relationship he had with Pepper, and she did not let her insecurities get the best of her when it came to them, unlike Amber who used to constantly argue with him about not only Pepper but Steph as well.

“The question you need to ask yourself, Tony,” Pepper continued after it was quiet between them for a few seconds, “is if you do stop, will you be able to rest? As for Steph, do you feel as if you are ready to move on? Because, deep down, I know you still love her and would do anything for her, even this.”

The answer to Pepper’s first question is that he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t be able to rest knowing that there was a chance to bring everyone back. And she was right: despite how hard he tried, he couldn’t deny that he still loved Stephanie Rogers. Hadn’t stopped loving her, really. And now that he knew that Steph still loved him, he thought that there was still a chance for him to make things right, not just for everyone who had died, but for him and Steph. With that in mind, he now knew what he was going to do tomorrow.

* * *

The first time travel test was, in other words, a disaster. A big goddamn fucking disaster. Steph, Natasha, and Scott managed to convince Bruce to help them with the Time Heist, but quantum physics was not Bruce’s area of expertise, so the first test pretty much went fucking terrible. ‘ _ Damn you Tony and you rubbing me off with your foul language, _ ’ Steph thought. She was just thankful that they managed to bring Scott back to normal, she was worried that they were going to be stuck with either an old or baby Scott Lang. Thank goodness Scott came back to normal when Natasha killed the power. Bruce saw this as a win, but to Steph, it was just a disaster. They were not going to get close to figuring out how to time travel safely anytime soon. If Tony had agreed with their plan, they’d probably figure it out a lot quicker, but he didn’t, so there was that.

Steph went outside after the disastrous first test to be alone with her thoughts. She could not help but think of the hopelessness of the situation and was beginning to wonder that maybe they should just abandon this whole Time Heist plan of theirs. She did not want to end up responsible for someone getting hurt or getting stuck in time during these little test runs.

Just when Steph was considering it, she all of a sudden heard a noise as if someone was driving towards the facility really fast. Looking up towards the gate, she saw what looked like a black Audi driving up the facility, and the person driving the Audi was practically burning their tires as they went around the curves of the road. Steph stared at the car in disbelief as she knew only one person who was crazy enough to drive like that and drove mainly fancy Audi sports cars that had access to the facility, and that was Tony Stark.

Tony drove the car around until he stopped at the curb where Steph stood a couple of feet in front of her before backing the car up until he was right beside her. He rolled down the window and turned his attention to her, giving her that knowing look that Steph both loved and hated at the same time. He knew it too, for he was giving her one of his trademark smirks.

“Why the long face?” he asked. “Let me guess, he turned into a baby?”

“Among other things,” Steph replied and Tony’s smirk just got wider at that. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s the EPR Paradox,” Tony said, making Steph look at him in confusion. She may have dated a science nerd, but science was still not her strongest suit. Tony knew this, for he continued to explain as he stepped out of the car, “Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang. It’s tricky, dangerous, somebody could have cautioned you against it.”

“You did.”

“Oh, did I?” Tony said in a mocked surprise tone. “Well, thank God I’m here.”

A small smile graced Steph’s features at that. Tony may have changed over the years, but if there was one thing that never changed, it was Tony’s confidence that could be considered borderline arrogance. There were times it drove Steph crazy, yet there were times where she loved it as well.

“Regardless, I fixed it,” Tony said and he held up his right hand in a fist to show the device he had around his hand. It looked almost like a watch to Steph. “A fully functioning time-space GPS.”

Steph should have been shocked—surprised, maybe—but she found herself not as shocked as she should have been. She knew that Tony could do it. The fact that he was here showing that he did made her happy and proud of him, it was the reason why they went to him in the first place. Her smile got even wider at that and a small chuckle escaped her lips, and her smile was apparently contagious for Tony was smiling back at her. The mood then shifted as he appeared to get serious not too long after that.

“You know, as I learned a long time ago, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it,” Tony said, closing the door to his car and leaning against it.

“Me too,” Steph replied.

There was a long silence between the both of them as they said nothing to each other.

“He’s not mine, you know,” Tony finally said, and Steph looked at him in confusion, not sure who he was referring to. “The kid, he’s not mine, he belongs to someone else.”

“Oh, really?” Steph said, feeling herself become relieved at hearing that and tried her hardest not to show it. “Who does he belong to?”

“He’s the son of an old-flame of mine after you,” Tony explained. “He lost his whole family after the snap, and I was the closest thing to family when I dated his mother.”

“Oh…”

And that little hope that she felt prior at having another chance with Tony went away just as quickly as it came.

“I have forgiven you, Steph, I forgave you a long time ago,” Tony said. “But you are not the only one who messed up, I am much to blame for what happened to us as you are. I just hope that you can forgive me as well for all the things I have said and done.”

It was quiet for a moment as Tony gave her a questioning and cautiously hopeful look before Steph finally spoke up.

“What makes you think I haven’t?”

The doubt Steph saw in Tony’s eyes went away, and it was replaced with hope and a smile graced his features. Then, he stepped towards her, invading her space. Steph thought he was going to kiss her, but she ended up being surprised when he ended up hugging her instead, putting his arms around her and pulling her into his embrace. Steph gladly hugged him back. As they embraced each other, Steph could not help but feel so happy and content in what felt like a really long time that it almost brought tears in her eyes. It just felt so right being in Tony’s arms, and it had been so long since they last embraced each other like this.

It was a minute before they finally pulled away from each other, and Steph was very close to kissing Tony as they did. She leaned forward to kiss him on the lips, and Tony began to do the same, but Steph then remembered that Tony was most likely in love with his old flame still and would no doubt go back to her once they brought everyone back. So, she stopped and pulled herself away before she allowed her emotions and impulses to take over her. She could have sworn, though, she saw a look of disappointment on Tony’s face when she did that.

“Speaking of forgiveness, there is something I’ve been meaning to give you,” Tony said as he stepped back and held up a finger as if indicating her to wait.

Steph’s interest was piqued as she watched him go to the back of his car, following him as her curiosity got the best of her. He opened the trunk and grabbed something round out of it, moving a blanket and toys off of it. To her astonishment, Steph realized it was her shield, something she had not held in a little over three years now. Tony walked towards her and held it out to her as if handing it to her, but Steph did not take it right away. While a part of her did miss her shield, there was another part of her that felt as if she didn’t deserve it.

“Tony, I don’t know…” she began.

“Why?” Tony asked. “He made it for you.” He then flipped it around so that the front of the shield was facing him. “Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage, it’s taking up a lot of space.”

Steph took the shield, putting her arm through the holster on the back of it. Holding the shield made her realize how much she missed it. The shield she was given back in Wakanda certainly helped during her battle against Thanos’ army, but nothing came close to her vibranium shield that Howard had made for her. It felt as if she got back a piece of her that was missing.

“Thank you, Tony,” she said, looking back at him with a grateful smile.

“Will you promise to keep that quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team. We’re getting the whole team, right?”

“We’re working on that right now.”

“Good,” Tony said. “Come on, we gotta lot of work to do in order to build this machine before everyone gets here.”

He held his hand out to her, and Steph hesitated a moment and finally took his offered hand. Once she did, he led her inside the facility to the others where they began to get to work on building the time machine. He held onto her hand almost the entire time he led her back in, and the warmth of his hand reminded Steph of how they were when they were together.

* * *

So, for days and nights, the Avengers worked on building the time machine with Steph helping Tony and the others building it until the rest of the remaining team arrived at the facility. When Tony and Steph came back inside where the others were, Natasha was giving them a surprised look as Tony and Steph were still holding hands, and she gave Steph a knowing smirk to which made the latter blush and finally let go of Tony’s hand. They got the whole team together with additional help such as Nebula and Rocket, and Clint and Thor finally arriving. Both Clint and Thor looked worse for wear since both were hit the hardest after the Snap with Clint losing his entire family and Thor blaming himself for what happened, but this mission they had gave them hope. So, the whole team got to work: building the time machine, testing the machine, and then finally going over a plan on how to get the stones from the past with the few Pym Particles they had left.

While this all happened, both Tony and Steph were getting close again, so close that everyone around them could tell that they both still cared for each other on a deeper level than as a friend and a teammate. But even though this was very obvious, neither one of them made the first move to talk about those feelings. Not even when they got the remaining team together and were brainstorming ideas on how to get the stones. Mostly because they were too preoccupied with other things, but also Steph assumed that Tony did not love her the way she did, believing that he would reunite with his old flame once everyone was brought back. So, she tried to keep her distance from him to keep herself from acting rather impulsively towards him.

However, it became hard to keep her distance and to not act impulsively as the days went by. A simple brush of the hand when Steph handed him something when he asked her to and the way he smiled at her made Steph shiver in a good kind of way. There was one time Steph was under the platform of the machine helping Tony when both of them realized how close they were, so close that they could almost kiss. Rocket, who was working under there as well and saw this, told them that if they wanted to bang that they ought to get a room. It had made Steph turn beet red while Tony just glared at him for it, having grown annoyed with the mutated raccoon’s rather abrupt and insensitive attitude. Overtime, Tony had even begun calling her endearing nicknames such as ‘gorgeous’ or ‘beautiful’, something he hasn’t called her in a long time. Him calling her that was making it hard for Steph to keep her distance and was only drawing her closer to him.  _ Why was he making this so hard for her?! _ She screamed this in her head every time he called her endearing nicknames or whenever they came close to kissing each other.

It was not until the night before they were set out on the mission and neither Tony or Steph made the first move  _ still _ that Natasha finally approached Steph about it. Natasha, who had been watching Steph and Tony for days, could see that they both still had feelings for one another, but she could also see that Steph was holding herself back, for whatever reason, and Natasha was fed up with it! She was too close to Steph and looked to her as her own sister to let her one chance of happiness slip away. So, after they went over the plan one last time and had dinner, Natasha approached Steph.

“So, are you going to make the first move or do I need to lock you and Tony up in a room until one of you do?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Steph asked in response.

That just made Natasha give her an exasperated look before rolling her eyes.

“Come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said. “There is so much sexual chemistry between you and Tony that Rocket is trying to convince the others to bet when you two will have sex, yet neither one of you has made the first move. Care to explain why?”

Steph really shouldn’t be surprised that Rocket was trying to make bets on her and Tony’s sex life, she really needed to have a discussion about his abrasive attitude towards certain things. Realizing that she had yet to answer Natasha’s question as she saw her giving her an expectant look, she turned away from her and sighed.

“It’s complicated.”

“What’s so complicated about it? You still have feelings for him, and as far as I’m aware, he’s single. What could be complicated about it?”

“It’s just…when we get all the stones, everyone will be back, including Tony’s old girlfriend whose son he has been taking care of for a year now.”

Understanding dawned on Natasha’s features.

“Once she’s back, then that means I’m essentially out of the picture, and I rather not keep him from someone that makes him happy, if that is what he wants.”

“Have you talked to him about this?”

There was a moment that Steph paused as she realized that she never did before responding to Natasha’s question.

“No…”

“Then talk to him,” Natasha stressed out.

“Tasha, I don’t think I can,” Steph said. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way as I do?”

“How do you know he doesn’t feel the same way if you don’t talk to him?” Natasha asked.

Steph got quiet as she realized that Natasha had a point, and that she was just making excuses not to go up and talk to him. She also realized that she was making the same mistake with Tony that she made previously before things went south with them. Did she really want to repeat the same mistake twice all because she was too afraid to be rejected?

“Steph, I know it’s scary, but if you still love him, which I know you do, then talk to him, tell him how you feel,” Natasha continued. “I lost my chance at happiness when Bruce left. The difference between my situation and yours, though, is that you at least have a chance of working it out, and I’ll be damned if I let you ruin your own chance and your own happiness. Go talk to him, or I will really lock you up in a room together.”

Steph would have laughed at Natasha’s threat, but knowing her, she actually would do that until one of them talked or made out or both. Natasha was right, though, it was time to stop being a coward and talk to Tony, get some things cleared up. Who knows what would happen tomorrow? And Steph did not want to have any more regrets if something ended up happening to them, so she steeled herself and went to the spare room that Tony stayed in whenever he stayed a night at the facility.

When she got there, she saw the door wide open and that Tony was still up and working on a certain part of his Timesuit with his Iron Man helmet on a table a couple of feet away facing him. Steph could not help but smile at that, thinking to herself how she should have known that he would be up still working even when the work was already done. The only thing they had to do was complete the mission, but here Tony was still working on ways to make things better than they already are.

“Boss, it is almost 10, you should head to bed,” FRIDAY said.

“In a minute, FRIDAY, I just want to work on this last kink on the Timesuit,” Tony replied.

“Perhaps you can work on it tomorrow?” FRIDAY suggested. “You have a big day tomorrow and need plenty of rest.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to bed soon,” Tony said in a tone that said he wasn’t really going to. It made Steph chuckle at that.

“You always were overworking yourself,” she finally spoke up, bringing Tony’s attention from the device he was working on to her. His eyes widened in surprise a little bit when he saw that it was her who was standing in the doorway of his room.

“As I recall, you used to love that about me,” he said.

“I think you and I remember that differently, it actually drove me crazy,” Steph replied as she walked in the room and sat on the sofa that was on Tony’s left side where he was sitting.

“I always did like riling you up.”

“Almost a little too much,” Steph responded with a fond smile, and Tony gave her one in return.

“So, what brings you here?” Tony asked. “Figured you might have gone to sleep by now.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Steph simply responded.

“Got the mission jitters or something?” Tony asked as he continued to focus working on the device.

“That and something else as well…”

It was then that Tony stopped focusing his attention on the device and turned his focus back on Steph when she said that. Tony seemed confused at first, but seeing the unsure look Steph was giving him, he put two and two together and got the idea on what she was talking about.

“Oh,” was all he said. “I was wondering when we were going to have this conversation. I suppose it’s better late than never.”

He set the device to the side on the coffee table and then turned his whole body towards Steph to give her his full attention. Steph sighed as she tried figuring out what to say. She had a whole speech prepared before coming here, but now that she was here facing Tony, all that speech went out the window as she struggled to talk about her feelings.

“I’m not really good at this,” she finally spoke up after sometime, “I can face men who tear off their faces, an entire army of evil robots or an alien race, but when it comes to this, I just feel so…so…”

“Inadequate?” Tony finished for her.

“Scared is the word I would actually use,” Steph replied. “And also feeling as if I don’t deserve you after everything that has happened between us.”

“You’re not the only one,” Tony responded softly.

Steph gave him a small smile at that, glad she wasn’t the only one that felt that way. She sighed before she changed the subject, trying to find a way to broach the topic.

“Colin will definitely be happy to see his mom once we bring everyone back…” Steph began.

“Yeah, she was a good mom, not the greatest in relationships, though,” Tony replied. “Colin is not looking forward to the day I give him back to his mom, he’s a good kid.”

It took a moment to understand the implications of Tony’s words. Once she did, she looked at Tony in surprise.

“You mean, you’re not getting back with Colin’s mom?” she asked. Tony shook his head no to confirm her answer. “Why not?”

“It just wasn’t working out,” Tony said. “Plus, she had a lot of control and jealousy issues that it was overbearing, and you know how much I hated that.”

Steph only nodded in understanding in response, knowing full well how Tony could not stand it when someone was so insecure that their jealousy and possessiveness was overwhelming. At the same time, she could not help but feel relieved at hearing that Tony was not going to get back with his old girlfriend but feeling sad for Colin who no doubt had looked up to Tony as a father-figure. However, even with all this new information, it did not necessarily answer Steph’s question that has been lingering in the back of her mind: did Tony still love her the way she loved him?

“Did you think I was going to get back with her once we brought everyone back?” Tony asked.

Steph nodded in response, and Tony gave her a look of understanding. ‘ _ So that is why she has been holding herself back _ ,’ Tony thought. He thought he made it very clear to her he still loved her, and he was beginning to get frustrated when he saw that she was holding herself back. He even talked to Rhodey about it, and the latter simply told him to talk to her about it, which Tony has been meaning to, they just have been so preoccupied with other things.

“You know, on the day Thanos first arrived, I was going to break-up with Amber,” he said. “I woke up from a dream one day, and it made me realize how much I still loved you and wanted to be with you, but life had other plans, I guess…”

“Oh,” Steph said, feeling herself become a little hopeful at hearing he still loved her at the time Thanos first arrived on Earth. She couldn’t let herself become too hopeful, though, as things might be different now. “What was the dream about?”

“That we had a child and we named her Natasha.”

“A child?” Steph repeated, her eyebrows raising in surprise at hearing that. She had always wanted children, even more so with Tony, and they certainly talked about it plenty of times before, but she didn’t think it was possible anymore after the events of the Civil War. “It’s funny, I’ve always imagined that if I had a little girl, I would name her after my mother.”

“Same here actually, except, you know, with my own.”

Steph smiled a little bit at that, but it disappeared just as quickly at the mention of Tony’s mother. She still regretted not telling him the truth about the death of his parents till this very day, and she wished there was something she could do to make up for it. She then leaned forward as she prepared herself to tell him about her feelings towards him.

“Tony, I know that you have forgiven me for what happened in the past and I know that we can never go back to the way things were, and I don’t expect it to,” Steph began, “but whatever happens tomorrow, I want to have no regrets and…” She paused for a moment as she struggled to say the next thing she wanted to say. “If we don’t die tomorrow trying to get everyone back, I would like to start over…with you, that is, if that, um, if that is something you still want?”

Tony says nothing at first as he just stared at her for some time. There was a dark gaze in his eyes that Steph could not read when he all of a sudden got up from his seat, walking towards her. He then bent down, leaning towards her and invading her space with his hands pressed against on both sides of the armchair of the sofa, basically boxing Steph in. He was looking her in the eye and giving her such an intense gaze that it was making Steph blush under it and wonder what he was going to do.

“What makes you think I don’t want to?” he asked her in a low tone, using almost all the words that she said to him days ago when he asked her if she could forgive him.

It took a moment for Tony’s words to register and the meaning behind them, but once they did, Steph felt herself become elevated and tears began to form in her eyes. All the doubts that she felt previously at Tony not loving her the way she did, of not being able to have that second chance she so desperately wanted, but never let herself show, all those doubts went away. She must have been crying, for she felt something wet running down her cheeks and Tony lifted a hand to wipe them away. Steph looked down, embarrassed at crying, but Tony lifted her chin up with his forefinger so that she could look him back in the eye, and she did not see any judgment in eyes, but just love. Pure love. He then leaned in further into Steph’s space, and Steph leaned in with him before their lips finally met.

It was a gentle kiss when their lips first met as if they were relearning how to kiss each other, what pleased them. As time went on, it became more passionate, their hands woving into each other’s hair and their tongues sliding against each other, until Tony was practically on top of her, but Steph welcomed it as she gripped his shoulders, pulling him in closer and wrapping her left leg around his right hip. All the emotions that Steph had felt, that she mainly kept to herself for so long, she just let it all out and poured it into the kiss, wanting to show Tony how much she loved and missed him, and he seemed to have felt the same for he continued to kiss her with such fervor and passion, like he had not drank any water in so long and was quenching his thirst. They kissed each other like this for a while, and it was sometime before they pulled away, remembering that they needed to breathe.

They breathed heavily, their hot breaths fanning each other’s faces as they attempted to get some air from kissing each other so much. Looking into Tony’s eyes, Steph could see the loving gaze he was giving her. Just seeing that made Steph smile, and he responded by giving her a small smile in return. His hands cupped the sides of her face, leaning his forehead against hers with his nose grazing against hers. Steph leaned into the touch, both of her hands caressing the back of his hands that were caressing the sides of her face.

“Have any regrets, darlin’?” Tony asked.

“Not for this moment,” Steph replied.

Tony grinned in response, and he stood up, pulling Steph up on her feet by her wrist and into his arms. He pressed her against his body so suddenly that it made Steph gasp slightly at the movement, but smiled as she saw the smirk on Tony’s face and felt the familiar warmth of his hands pressed against her back through her blue spaghetti strap shirt, both sending delightful tingles down her spine. He crashed his lips down once more on hers, kissing her with more passion than ever before, and she responded in kind by pulling him in closer, deepening the kiss. Eventually, Steph felt Tony’s hands go lower and lower until they reached just below her buttocks. As soon as they reached there, Tony suddenly lifted her up, making Steph yelp in surprise and having her wrap her legs around his waist. She gave him a knowing smile when she saw a familiar glint in his eyes, it was a look he always gave her when he was in the mood. Pretty soon after that, he carried her over to the bed, kissing her as he did, and threw her on the bed, falling on top of her as he did. The action made Steph giggle, and Tony smiled, the sound of Steph’s laughter sounding like music to his ears.

“Shall we make up for lost time, Captain Rogers?” Tony asked with a grin on his face.

“We most definitely shall, Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s lewd grin got wider at that, and it sent shivers down her spine rather quickly, feeling the familiar warmth of desire run throughout her body. They kissed each other once more, and it was sometime before they finally took each other’s clothes off, exploring each other’s bodies once more and making love into the late night until the early morning. They definitely had a lot more to talk about if they wanted to give their relationship a second chance, but if they lived to see another day, they’ll have plenty of time to talk about that. For this moment, Steph just focused on how Tony’s hands and mouth were lighting her body on fire once more, feeling his fingers and tongue inside of her that was making her scream his name.

Steph could feel the pressure building as Tony had been pounding into her after some time until her body finally reached her climax. She saw white stars flash before her eyes, and she arched her back and gripped onto Tony’s shoulders tightly as she rode through her orgasm, screaming his name so loud that anyone who was nearby would probably have heard her. Tony came not too long after that, pounding into harder and faster until he gasped and moaned as he finally came inside of her, gripping onto her hips rather tightly as he did. They finally came down from their sexual high and once that happened, Tony collapsed on top of Steph, both of them breathing very heavily and being sweaty and exhausted from their love-making as they tried to catch their breath.

When they finally catched their breath, Tony finally pulled out of Steph and laid right next to her. They laid right next to each other for a little while before Steph finally turned her head to face Tony. The latter also turned to face her as well, and he couldn’t help but smile when he saw the blissful smile on her face. Steph then turned on her right side to wrap her arms around his waist and lay her head on his chest, and Tony wrapped her arms around her and kissed the top of her head in response. His chest was still rather sweaty that it was making Steph’s side of her face and part of her hair wet, but Steph did not personally care about that, she just felt so happy and content being in this moment.

“I love you,” Steph whispered.

“I love you too,” Tony whispered back.

Pretty soon, the two superheroes fell asleep into each other’s arms. It was the next morning when they woke up and took a shower together, they got dressed, both of them helping each other in their Timesuits, and went down to meet the others. Before they did, Steph grabbed a hold of Tony’s hand and pulled him aside.

“Can you promise me one thing?” she asked.

“What’s that?”

“Whatever happens today and we live to see another day, can you promise me that we’ll get through it together?”

Tony stares at her, knowing exactly what she was referring to, and gave her a bit of a regretful smile before he caressed her cheek and kissed her on the lips.

“I promise,” he whispered after he pulled away.

They then went towards the team and set on the mission ready to do what they promised each other, however, it seemed as if life had other plans for the two Avengers.


	2. Finding Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steph finds out about being pregnant and she struggles with telling Tony after they both suffered a great loss.

Steph has not been feeling good for the past two weeks now. At first, she thought it was a bug she caught or maybe there was something wrong with the serum, but then she thought better of it. She hadn’t really been sick since the serum, and she already talked to Bruce who did a test on the serum, and he found nothing wrong with it. So, Steph had relaxed and thought nothing more of it, but when she continued to feel nauseous, that’s when she began to get worried. Then, she remembered something…

She had missed her period by a week and a half! And if she remembered what happened between her and Tony about a month and a half ago, they didn’t use any protection.

Her eyes went wide when she first realized this. The more she thought about the possibility of being pregnant, the more it made sense to her and the words that not only the Ancient One said to her, but Schmidt as well when she returned the stones back to their rightful place.

“I am sensing…life in you,” Schmidt said to her on Vorimir.

“I think you have always known I’ve had a bit of spunk in me, Schmidt,” Steph replied.

“No, I mean, you have life  _ inside _ of you.”

Steph still did not quite understand what Schmidt meant, giving him a confused look, but looking back on it now, the meaning of his words began to make sense.

At first, she denied it. She did not want to believe she was pregnant as the timing of it was not right: the Avengers had suffered not only the devastating loss of Natasha Romanoff, someone that Steph looked to as a sister, but of Pepper Potts as well, and there was no one more than Tony who was devastated by the latter’s loss. As a result, both heroes were grieving over losing a loved one, and they had yet to find the time to talk about their relationship. Now, on top of dealing with their loss, there was the possibility that Steph was pregnant with Tony’s child.

She didn’t want to believe that she was pregnant, but it became harder to deny that possibility as the days went by, the nausea was getting worse that it was becoming unbearable. One morning, Steph woke up and the nausea had hit her so bad that she felt like she was going to throw up, and that is what she did. She had rushed to the small bathroom in her room, barely making it, before she finally hurled into the toilet. It was a minute before she was finally done, flushing the toilet and cleaning the seat and going over to the sink to try to rinse her mouth.

‘ _ God, I feel fucking awful, _ ’ Steph thought as she stood in front of the sink, feeling like she had to throw up again.

“Are you alright, Captain Rogers?” came the concerned voice of FRIDAY from the ceiling. “It seems as if you haven’t been feeling well as of late.”

“Yeah, FRIDAY, I’m fine, just feeling under the weather,” Steph replied.

“Should I get Boss on the line? Maybe he and Dr. Banner can work together and see what’s going on…”

Steph hesitated as she thought about it. She wasn’t sure if she should tell Tony about the possibility of being pregnant right now, more so on how to tell him than anything else. He was already dealing with enough as it is. With Pepper now gone, Tony was not only grieving over her death but he was now once again the CEO of Stark Industries, so he was much busier between managing not only the Avengers along with Steph and building them a new facility but Stark Industries as well. Since Thanos destroyed their facility, Tony had the Avengers move into the Stark Tower in the city until a new one could be built. With all of that going on, could Steph really add a baby on top of the stress he was already dealing with? She needed to think about figuring out a way on how to tell him without stressing him out than he already was.

“No, let’s not get him involved just yet,” Steph finally said to FRIDAY. “He’s got enough on his plate as it is.”

“Yes, Captain Rogers.”

All of a sudden, Steph felt the urge to throw-up again and she ran back to the toilet where she threw up once again. Finally feeling as if she was done, she went back to the sink and rinsed her mouth, trying to get the taste of bile out of her mouth.

“Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY called out to her once she was finished, “Boss has been calling you for the past minute, he wishes to speak to you.”

Steph thanked the AI before walking out of her bathroom to grab her phone that was on her nightstand by her bed.

“Hello?” she answered, trying her best to make it sound as if she just didn’t throw up.

“Steph, are you alright?” Tony asked in a bit of an alarmed tone.

“Um, yeah, I’m alright, why wouldn’t I be?” Steph asked in a confused tone, wondering why he sounded alarmed.

“FRIDAY told me that you were sick,” Tony replied. “Is it the serum? Is there something wrong with it?”

Steph looked up to the ceiling as if to glare at FRIDAY, even though there were no cameras in her room so the AI who was so loyal to Tony couldn’t see how annoyed Steph was at her. She was going to have to have a discussion with FRIDAY about this. She did not want Tony calling and worrying over her, asking her questions about why she was sick, especially when she was still uncertain how she was going to tell him on the possible reason she wasn’t feeling too great.

“Tony, I’m fine,” Steph said, trying to reassure him. “It has nothing to do with the serum, I think I just caught a case of…food poisoning or something.”

Steph winced as she realized how bad the lie sounded. If FRIDAY had been a person, she would be giving her an incredulous look. Even Tony seemed like he didn’t believe her lie.

“Are you sure?” he asked in a bit of a dubious tone. “Perhaps I can have Bruce check the serum for you?”

“Tony, I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me,” Steph insisted. “Besides, Bruce already ran a test on it for me, he didn’t find anything wrong so I don’t think it’s anything for you to worry about.

“Are you sure?”

“Tony, I said I’m fine already!”

And realizing that she just snapped at him and making her feel bad, Steph spoke in a more gentler tone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap, I guess I’m just a little tired and stressed out. Will you be coming to the tower tonight?”

“I should be able to,” Tony responded. “I do have a meeting in the late afternoon, but it shouldn’t take me too long. I’ll see you tonight, Steph.”

“See you…”

She wanted to say ‘I love you’, but for some reason, the words just wouldn’t come out easily, and Tony had hung up before she even could. She sighed as she set her phone back down on her nightstand and rubbed her hands all over her face, feeling very tired even though she got plenty of sleep last night. ‘ _ Why am I so tired? _ ’ she thought. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was almost time for training, and that Bruce had probably fixed breakfast for everyone already. Swallowing back the sickness, she got dressed before going to the dining room to have breakfast with the others. As she walked there, she was really hoping that Bruce made some pancakes or waffles instead of a whole bunch of eggs because man, she has been craving them for sometime now!

* * *

There were no pancakes or waffles at breakfast. Bruce had made a whole bunch of eggs again with toast, bacon, and some hash browns. Just the smell of them was making Steph nauseous that she barely even touched her food, and some of her teammates had noticed, for Steph’s appetite rivaled that of Thor’s. To see their captain not eat as much food as she normally did gave them cause for concern, but Steph brushed their concerns off, saying that she just wasn’t that hungry. Her teammates interpreted that as her grieving over Natasha, which she was, but it had more to do with the nausea than her grief.

Training came not too long after breakfast, and Steph had the team run some drills, even training the new recruits such as Carol and Valkyrie. It was a nice feeling to see more women on the team. She remembered when she first became an Avenger how she and Natasha were the only two female superheroes on the team, and it often felt like a sausage fest at times. She liked both Carol and Valkyrie well enough, both were great fighters and she connected well with them since one was in the US military at one point and the other was an Asgardian warrior, and Valkyrie could outdrink all the men, even Thor, under the table. If she managed to get Scott and Hope to join, then that would make at least five female superheroes on the team, but Tony wanted to rebuild the facility first before bringing in two more superheroes to live with them, so Steph decided to wait until that project was complete.

It was during training that Steph realized she was in fact pregnant. She was doing hand-to-hand combat with Carol, learning the fighting techniques she learned from the Kree, and Steph was feeling very weak and tired the more she pushed herself. Carol, who seemed very determined to prove herself to her childhood hero, had not noticed and knocked Steph off of her feet. For a brief moment, Steph’s vision had gone black and she had a hard time catching her breath. When Carol saw that her captain did not get up right away, she realized that she may have hurt her more than she thought.

“Oh my God, Stephanie, are you alright?” Carol nearly shouted as she ran towards Steph, crouching down to Steph’s level.

All the other Avengers had stopped what they were doing and ran towards both Carol and Steph. It was Wanda who got there first and once she did, she placed a hand on Steph’s shoulder and immediately flinched away as if she just had an electric shock from touching Steph. She looked at Steph in shock with wide eyes as if she had just discovered something. None of the other Avengers saw the look on her face, though, for they were all too busy trying to check on Steph who was still laying down on the mat.

“Steph! Steph, are you alright?” Rhodey asked.

It was a couple moments before Steph was able to get her vision back and, much to her embarrassment, could see all of her teammates surrounding her and looking down at her in concern. It also took her a minute and a half to process that Rhodey had asked her if she was okay, and she had yet to respond.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” she finally said once she fully processed what just happened, “just got a little winded, that’s all.”

Steph grabbed a hold of Rhodey and Sam’s hands, and they both helped her up. She felt a little woozy as she got back on her feet, but after a couple of seconds, she felt fine.

“I am so sorry, Cap, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard,” Carol said.

Steph could see the remorseful look on Carol’s face, and she could tell that she genuinely felt sorry, making Steph reassure her.

“It’s fine, Carol, you actually didn’t hit me very hard, I guess I’m just a little bit tired more than usual.”

“I think it is best that we cut training short for the day then,” Wanda said.

Steph looked to Wanda and she could see Wanda giving her a certain look, and something told Steph that there was something she knew and that Steph should heed her advice. So, she nodded in agreement.

“Very well, we’ll start again tomorrow.”

All the Avengers nodded and all of them began filing out of the gym to go shower and change. The only two that stayed behind were Wanda and Steph. Wanda watched Steph as she put everything away, noticing how she seemed to be rather sluggish in picking up the weights. Wanda knew why, and it is why she decided to stay behind and talk to Steph about it.

“Do you need help with that?” Wanda asked as she approached Steph

“No, I got it,” Steph declined.

She lifted the heavy weights and put them back in their place before turning back to Wanda.

“You look like you have something to say to me…”

Wanda nodded and then asked, “When was the last time you had your period?”

“A little over a month and a half ago,” Steph replied. “I’m late, actually, was supposed to start almost a week ago now.”

“I know why…”

Steph looked at Wanda when she said that and she could see the knowing look on Wanda’s face that she was giving her. It was the look she wore when she had a vision. Seeing that look, Steph can already guess what she saw.

“You had a vision, didn’t you?” Steph asked.

Wanda nodded in response.

“I saw your baby inside of you.”

Steph sighed, feeling not at all surprised by this information since she suspected it. However, she also felt a lot of anxiety at this revelation. Now, she really had to tell Tony, but the question was how she was going to tell him.

“I had a feeling I was,” she said. “I didn’t really want to believe it.”

“Does Tony know?”

Steph shook her head no.

“And I don’t know how to tell him, he’s been dealing with so much already that I’m not sure he can handle having a baby on top of this. We barely even rekindled our relationship, haven’t even talked about us since the day before the Time Heist and now…now, I’m pregnant.”

Wanda gave Steph a look of sympathy as she saw the conflict in Steph’s eyes, no doubt feeling confused on what she should do. But she could see Steph making the same mistake with Tony now that she made in regards to Bucky, and she cared too much about her leader to let her make that same mistake.

“I know you think you may be saving Tony a lot of stress and grief by not telling him, but you have to realize you’ll be making the same mistake when you didn’t tell him about his parents if you don’t tell him about you being pregnant. I think once he knows, you’ll know what you’ll need to do and go from there.”

Steph nodded in response, knowing that Wanda was right.

“Just don’t wait too long to tell him,” Wanda said. “Go get some rest, you look like you need it.”

She then walked away before Steph could say anything. Steph nearly laughed at Wanda’s comment, thinking to herself how she was right: Steph was tired, so tired that she felt like she could just lay on the training mat and sleep there. She knew she should probably go and eat something, but she was just too tired and still a little bit nauseous, so she decided to just go straight to her room and take a nap after taking a shower.

As she walked to her room and took a shower, she thought over Wanda’s words and knew that Wanda was right: she couldn’t make the same mistake with Tony that she made with Bucky, she had to tell him about being pregnant. How she was going to tell him, she didn’t know, but she just had to tell him. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted to keep the baby. She and Tony had always talked about starting a family, but she didn’t want it to happen like this. Things were messy and their relationship still needed to be worked on if they wanted to work out. More importantly, she was worried that Tony wouldn’t want it, especially now since he was going through so much already. She didn’t know what she would do if Tony didn’t want the baby.

Knowing that she would eventually work out a way of telling him, Steph put the thought out of her mind and took a nap. By the time she woke up again, it was already late afternoon and her nausea was gone and, with that, her appetite had returned. She immediately went to the kitchen and started cooking something for herself, making a whole stack of pancakes. The rest of the team noticed Steph’s rather large appetite and everyone but Wanda figured that Steph was feeling better and back to normal, although they did find it rather strange that she was craving breakfast food in the late afternoon.

As promised, Tony came to the tower that night just as dinner was being served, and all the Avengers were at the table ready to eat. Steph was happy to see him as it felt as if she hadn’t seen him in days, but, much to her disappointment, he opted out of joining the team at the table, taking his plate to the garage to work. She really wanted to spend a little bit of time with him and maybe talk about where they were at so she could figure out a way to tell him that she was pregnant, but something in his eyes made her hesitate. When he first walked in the room, she could see the tired and sad look in his eyes as he was no doubt stressed over being the CEO of Stark Industries once again while grieving over the loss of Pepper. She watched him leave with worry and apprehension on her face, and she could see Wanda giving her a knowing look to which she decided to ignore for now.

Later that night, she was in her room, sketching a drawing of her and Natasha when she all of sudden was called on by FRIDAY.

“Captain Rogers?”

“What is it, FRIDAY?” she asked.

“I am worried about Boss right now…”

Steph became alarmed at hearing that and stopped what she was doing, putting her colored pencil down.

“What’s wrong?”

“He has not moved or done anything for the past thirty minutes now, I have attempted to get him to talk or eat, but he is not responding to any of my calls.”

FRIDAY didn’t need to say anymore. Steph threw her sketchpad to the side and ran towards the garage where she knew Tony was. Once she got there, she ran inside, not needing to put in her passcode as FRIDAY let her in, and saw him sitting in the middle of the room in front of a hologram where a video of Pepper playing with Colin was running. Suddenly, Steph understood why Tony had not responded to any of FRIDAY’s calls. Watching him watch the video, she saw that he was not moving at all and she knew just by watching him that he was no doubt paralyzed due to his grief, and she emphasized with him. She knew exactly how he was feeling, for she was going through the same thing over the death of Natasha (and Bucky when she believed him to be dead). What made Natasha and Pepper’s death more difficult not only for Steph and Tony was 1) they didn’t even have a body to bury to put Natasha to rest, and 2) there was no way to bring either Natasha or Pepper back, they were just dead. Schmidt had pretty much destroyed any hope of that happening when he explained to her there was nothing that could be done for either of them to come back. No coming back from the dead whether it was through mystical or scientific means, they were just gone.

After watching Tony watch the video of Pepper for sometime with a pang of sorrow in her chest, she walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The movement had made Tony jump a little bit, but he relaxed once he turned and saw that it was her. When he turned to her, Steph could see the tears running down his face and his eyes were bloodshot red. Seeing him like this broke Steph’s heart, and she wished there was something she could do to take away the pain he was feeling, but she knew from experience that there was nothing she could do that would take away the pain of losing someone you loved.

“Steph, what are you doing here?” he asked as he quickly wiped away the tears from his eyes.

“FRIDAY called me, she told me you weren’t responding to any of her calls and was getting worried,” Steph said.

Tony gave her a small, sad smile.

“Remind me to thank her for looking out for me,” he said. “She’s always looking out for me, just like…like  _ she _ used to.”

Steph did not need to ask who Tony was referring to when he said “she”.

“You know, I came in here, I ate, and I went over here to invent something,” Tony continued. “I have ideas in my head on what I want to invent, things not only for us but for the company. But as soon as I came over here, it was like as if I just… _ couldn’t _ . It felt like I couldn’t invent something, haven’t in weeks now. I just  _ can’t _ invent anymore.”

She could see more tears shining in his eyes, and he turned away, covering his eyes with his hands as his whole body shook with sobs. Steph walked around until she was in front of him, getting down on her knees and placing a comforting hand on his knee. When she did that, Tony had removed his hand from his eyes and looked down at her with his tear-streaked face.

“Why did she have to die?” he asked her.

And for once, in situations like these, Steph did not have a response for that. As a World War II veteran, death was not uncommon and she often had to hold back tears for those that died in battle, but Tony was not a soldier: he was a man who lost a very good friend. A friend who loved him almost as much as Steph loved Tony. To say that Pepper died fighting for a good cause not only would be insensitive, but also inaccurate, for Steph knew that Pepper chose to snap her fingers not to save everyone, but to save Tony. So, instead of saying anything, Steph pulled Tony into her arms, and the latter gladly accepted it, getting out of the chair and getting on his knees as he held Steph tightly to him as if he was going to lose her.

As they held onto each other, Tony cried into her shoulder, whispering about how much he missed Pepper, and Steph just soothed him, rubbing circles on his back. Steph shed some tears of her own as she felt Tony’s sorrow and anguish that it made her think of her own loss over Natasha. They stayed in each other’s arms for sometime, even long after they had stopped crying, and Tony had eventually fallen asleep against Steph’s chest. Not too long after that, Steph had moved Tony gently so as to not wake him, carrying him bridal style over to the couch and laying him down on there. As she put a blanket over him, Tony woke up with a start.

“Shh, it’s okay, Tony, just sleep,” Steph said in a soothing, quiet tone.

Tony looked too tired to protest, so he shut his eyes to go back to sleep. Steph wanted to stay with him, but she was uncertain if he would want her to stay and sleep next to him, so she thought it would be best to get up and leave. As she made to get up, though, Tony grabbed a hold of her wrist, effectively stopping her.

“No,” he said as he did, making Steph look back at him. “Don’t go, please stay with me…”

When Tony gave her that pleading look, she found it hard for her to say no and it also made her glad that he wanted her to stay.

“Alright, shellhead, scooch over,” she said.

Tony was only happy to oblige as he turned on his side and moved a little so that there was room for Steph to lay down next to him. He moved the blanket off of him, and Steph laid on her side as well so that she was laying in front of him, and he put the blanket over her, wrapping his arm around her with his hand resting on her belly.

This action reminded Steph of her condition and what she needed to tell Tony. After what transpired earlier, though, Steph began to have doubts about telling him. Even though they had won the battle against Thanos, they still had lost. It had only been a month and a half, so they and the team were still grieving over their loss. Can Steph really bring a baby into the mix of all that? Would they even be ready? More importantly, would Tony even want to have a baby in the midst of all this?

She sighed as all these doubts plagued her mind, thinking to herself how she was going to tell him. She listened to the sound of Tony’s light breathing as he slept right behind her before she too finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It was the next morning when Steph woke up with Tony who was still fast asleep. As soon as she did, the nausea had hit her once more. She slowly sat up, and she wanted to lay back down once she did. The nausea was hitting her like a ton of bricks that it was making it hard for her to focus. Suddenly, the urge to hurl came, and Steph gagged as she covered her mouth. Not able to hold it in any longer, she threw the blanket off of her and ran towards the bathroom that was in Tony’s garage, slamming it shut.

The movement and the sound of Steph slamming the door shut was enough to wake Tony from his slumber. He woke up to the sound of someone slamming a door and a sound coming from the bathroom as if someone was throwing up. He opened his eyes and saw that Steph was no longer on the couch, and he sat up in alarm when he realized that the sound of someone throwing up in the bathroom was most definitely coming from Steph. Throwing the blanket off of him, he rushed towards the bathroom where he witnessed Steph kneeled over the toilet, throwing up.

Seeing this concerned Tony, for she has hardly ever got sick, and all of the times she was, she never threw up. He was quick to take action, though, and he put his concerns to the side for now. He went up to her, holding her hair back for her as she threw up. It wasn’t long after that before she finally stopped, pulling herself up and indicating to Tony that she was done, so he let go of her hair. He coaxed her to go sit down while he cleaned up after her, and Steph was all too happy to oblige, not feeling too good and just wanted to go lie down until the nausea went away. As she did that, Tony cleaned up after her and then came back out, fixing Steph a glass of water, and he handed it to her. Still laying on the couch, Steph took the glass from him, thanking him, and took a large gulp out of the glass while Tony sat down right next to her as she did.

Steph knew what was coming, she could see the look on Tony’s face as she drank the water, which is why she took her time taking the large gulp. Once she was done, she handed the glass back to him and Tony set it on the coffee table in front of the couch before fixing her with a stern, but concerned look.

“How long have you been sick, Steph?” he asked.

“I only started throwing up yesterday, Tony, I don’t think it is something for you to be concerned about.”

“It is something for me to be concerned about! You hardly ever get sick and when you do, which is rare, you bounce from it pretty quick. I think Bruce needs to run a second test, make sure he didn’t miss anything.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, Tony,” Steph said. “As I said, it’s just a case of food poisoning, it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Are you sure it’s just a case of food poisoning? It seems a little more serious if you have been throwing up for the past two days now…”

“Yes, Tony, it is!” Steph said in an exasperated tone, feeling her irritation rise pretty quickly. “Stop fussing over me, you know how much I hate that!”

“Someone has to since you have reckless tendencies and tend to not take care of yourself,” Tony snipped back.

Steph gave him a look as if to say ‘look who’s talking?’ as she thought of all the times he has done something reckless.

“Okay, point taken,” Tony said when he saw the look she was giving him. “I’m just saying that I’m concerned for you, Steph, what if it is something worse than you think?”

‘ _ Hopefully, it isn’t as bad as you think it is, _ ’ Steph thought.

“I do not think it is as bad as you think it is,” she said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I just have a feeling…”

Tony gave her a confused look at her rather inconspicuous answer. Before he could ask her about it, Steph continued.

“If it gets any worse, I promise I’ll go to Bruce and have him run a second test.”

Tony accepted that, for he knew that if there was one thing he could trust, it was her word.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”

Steph wanted to protest as she felt too nauseous to even eat anything, but she allowed Tony to bring her to her feet and lead her to the dining room in the penthouse. When they got to the penthouse, Bruce, Wanda, Rhodey, and Sam were already there. The smell of food and coffee hit Steph’s nostrils and just smelling it made her want to vomit, and she had to hold back a gag so as to not worry Tony any further. Normally, Steph loved the smell of coffee, but today, it just made her want to hurl.

“There you two are!” Bruce said happily. “I was wondering where you were.”

“We fell asleep in the garage,” Tony said.

“Working late again?”

“You could say that,” Tony replied. Although, Steph knew better and did not say anything in response to that for the sake of Tony’s privacy.

They sat down at the table and served themselves breakfast. As they sat down, Steph made eye contact with Wanda who was giving her a questioning look as if to ask her something. Knowing what that question was, Steph gave her the briefest shake of her head to tell her no, and Wanda nodded in understanding before going back to her breakfast. Tony poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her and she made to take a sip of it, but just smelling the coffee made her so nauseous that she put the cup back down, not touching it. Sam noticed this and became concerned.

“Cap, are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Steph asked in response.

“You just haven’t touched your coffee and every time you look at it, you look like you’re about to throw up.”

“I’m okay, Sam, I’m just not in the mood for coffee today.”

Steph could see everyone giving her a concerned look with Tony looking at her like that most of all, but she did her best to ignore them as she tried eating her breakfast. The rest of the Avengers eventually came to table with Carol coming first, much to the delight of Rhodey, and he began making small talk with her, and then finally Thor and Valkyrie came, so the whole team was there eating and talking. Everyone but Steph, who had barely even eaten everything off of her plate, and she finally pushed it away after sometime and put her face in her hands. She could not take another bite and the smell of eggs was making her nauseous, having eaten them everyday since moving into the Stark Tower.

“Hey, Cap, are you sure you’re alright?” Sam asked, noticing this.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Steph suddenly snapped, getting a little fed up with that question and surprising everyone. “I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m fine!”

The table got quiet at Steph’s sudden outburst, wondering where her sudden mood change came from. Steph sighed, once again feeling bad as she realized that she snapped out without any provocation. Man, what is with her mood today? She was getting a little more irritable than usual, and she knew it had nothing to do with that time of the month for her.

“Sorry, Sam, I didn’t mean to snap,” Steph said. “I’m just feeling really tired right now.”

“Should we postpone our training to a later time then?” Rhodey asked.

“Yes,” Tony answered before Steph could, making her give him a stern look. He responded with one of his own. “You need to rest, Steph, there will be time for training later.”

Steph would have argued some more, but at that moment, FRIDAY interrupted them.

“Boss, Fury is attempting to call, he wishes to have a video conference,” she said. “He said he has urgent news for you and the Avengers that may affect you all.”

Tony looked like he didn’t want to, but he nodded as if to give his consent before verbally responding, “Very well, put him through.”

A hologram of a video call with Fury’s face appeared in front of the table facing Tony and the other Avengers, and Thor who was sitting right behind the hologram had to turn in his seat to see it without having to look behind him.

“Nice to see you guys are still holding each other together,” Fury said.

“We’re getting by,” Tony replied. Steph placed a hand in his, to which he responded by giving her hand a squeeze and a grateful look before turning his attention back to Fury. “So, what urgent news do you bring for us, Fury?”

“You guys remember your old friend Zemo?” Fury asked.

“How could we forget?” Steph said sarcastically.

“Whose Zemo?” Carol asked.

“He’s the reason why the Avengers broke up in the first place,” Rhodey replied. “He’s got a vendetta against us due to losing his family from the Sokovia incident. I’ll explain later.”

He added that last part when he saw Carol just give him a confused look when he said ‘Sokovia incident’.

“And because of that vendetta, he’s a danger not only to you guys, but to everyone else,” Fury said. “We just got news from our CIA friends: Zemo escaped.”

It was here that the Avengers, the ones who knew and had dealt with Zemo, looked at Fury in concern.

“How?” Wanda asked.

“It has to do with the snap,” Fury answered. “Zemo was one of the victims of the snap, so security systems were shut off in his cell. When Dr. Banner brought everyone back, so did Zemo and since security systems were shut off by the time he came back, he was able to escape before anyone could figure out what was going on.”

“Where is he right now?” Steph asked.

“We currently have Barnes tracking down his movements,” Fury said.

“In other words, you have no idea where he is, then?” Tony asked in an almost accusatory tone.

Steph placed a hand over his as if to reassure and remind Tony that it was not Fury’s fault that they had no idea where Zemo was right now. Fury did not seem to take it too hard, though, for he gave Tony an understanding look.

“We are doing the best we can, Stark,” he said. “In the meantime, you guys should be on your guard until he is caught again.”

“I’ll have to upgrade my security systems,” Tony said.

“And I’ll come up with tactics in case Zemo does manage to attack us here,” Steph replied.

Tony gave her a stern look as if to tell her no, but Fury spoke up before Tony could even argue against that.

“In the meantime, I’ll have a couple of agents keep guard of the tower and make sure that Zemo doesn’t get anywhere near you guys.”

“Thanks for the info, Fury, keep us posted.”

Tony then ended the video call and then gave Steph a reproachful glare.

“You really should go and rest after this, I don’t think you are in any good condition right now to be coming up with tactics,” he said.

“I’m just going over tactics, it is not as if I’m going to be doing cartwheels or working out as I do,” Steph said. “I’ll be fine.”

Tony sighed exasperatedly, but he did not even bother to try to argue with her any further, knowing it was useless.

“I am going to go get to work.”

Steph then pushed her chair back and got up very quickly, but the moment she did, she regretted it. She got dizzy and her vision went black for a moment, nearly stumbling as she got up, and it prompted both Tony and Sam to get up and grab a hold of her wrists when she did.

“Steph!”

“Whoa, Cap, you don’t look so good! I think you need to get that rest before working on anything.”

“I’m fine, Sam, I just got up too fast, that is all,” Steph replied.

“Steph, you are not fine!” Tony said in an alarmed and exasperated tone. “You threw up this morning and now you are barely eating, you haven’t even touched your coffee, and you got dizzy and nearly fell when you got up just now. I think you should take a day off…”

“Wait, you’re throwing up now?” Bruce asked Steph. “Has your nausea gotten worse?”

“Wait a second, you’ve been nauseous too? For how long?!” Tony asked, his voice rising and becoming more alarmed now.

At that moment, Steph wished that Bruce kept his big mouth shut. He must have realized it too, for he gave her a guilty expression when she glared at him.

“Not very long, Tony,” Steph said, answering his question. “As I said, it is just a case of food poisoning.”

“Seems like it is more than just a case of food poisoning…”

“Well, it’s not!” Steph shouted. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to work on how to better protect ourselves ‘cause right now, we are in a vulnerable state! And I, for one, would not like to lose anyone else right now.”

With that, she shrugged off Tony’s and Sam’s hands off of her wrists and walked away with everyone watching her leave with concerned looks on their faces. Tony with being concerned most of all and feeling hurt as well, wondering what is it that she was keeping from him.

“Is it just me or does the captain seem more moodier than usual?” Rhodey asked everyone once Steph was out of the room.

Most of the Avengers nodded their agreement, and no one noticed Wanda took a large gulp of her orange juice after Rhodey said that.

* * *

Steph meant to work on coming up with tactics in case Zemo decided to attack the Stark Tower. Since she was so nauseous, she figured that maybe she could lay down in her bed and come up with one, see if laying down might help, but it didn’t. She laid down on her bed and tried coming up with a tactic on her tablet, but the nausea was making it hard for her to concentrate. That and she was incredibly tired and wanted to go to sleep, but her anxious thoughts were now keeping her up. Upon hearing the news about Helmut Zemo’s escape, Steph began to worry about the safety of hers and Tony’s unborn child. Having lost his whole family in Sokovia, he would no doubt do anything in his power to make sure that Tony and Steph lose the baby by any means necessary if word ever got to him that Steph was pregnant with Tony’s child. It made Steph wonder, should she even keep the baby?

She was against the idea of getting an abortion for herself, but with the Avengers still in such a vulnerable state and Tony and Steph’s still fragile relationship, was it right to bring a baby in the mix of all this? Would Tony even be happy about having a baby? Or would he not and say that he wasn’t ready, that it was too soon after losing Pepper? Steph wondered what the best course of action would be and how she will go about telling Tony that she is pregnant with his child.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door, bringing Steph out of her anxious thoughts and she removed her arm that she had over her eyes.

“Come in!”

The door opened, and Steph looked up to see Sam walk in her room. She could see the concerned look he had on his face.

“Hey, Cap, you feelin’ alright?” he asked. “It’s alright if I ask you that, right?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Steph said as she sat up, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Sorry about that, by the way…”

“It’s fine, I have a sister. I figured it might be that time of the month for you or something.”

‘ _ If only it really was, _ ’ Steph thought as she gave Sam a bit of a strained smile.

“What’s on your mind?” Sam asked.

“Just worried about some things, is all.”

“Is it Zemo?”

When Steph did not respond to Sam’s question, he interpreted her silence as an affirmative to his question.

“He’s not going to get to us,” he said. “If there is anyone who can track him down, it’s Barnes.”

“I know, I’m just worried, that’s all.”

Sam gave her a look of understanding. They did not say anything to each other for a few seconds as Sam looked at the distressed look on Steph’s face, and he then came up with an idea that thought might help ease her a little bit.

“Why don’t you and I head to the gym and spar for a bit? Might take your mind off of things and I’ve been meaning to finally beat you in one-on-one.”

The suggestion appeared to work for Steph gave him a challenging smirk.

“Challenge accepted, Wilson.”

So, the two friends went down to the gym and sparred with each other. Steph knew it was probably not a good idea since she was pregnant, but she advised Sam to avoid jabbing her in the stomach as they did, which he did; plus, the sparring really did ease Steph’s mind a little bit. There were times where Steph had stumbled and nearly got hit from being so tired and she was getting dizzy, but her reflexes were still much quicker and she managed to knock Sam flat on his back.

Sam groaned in pain and maybe some slight annoyance when he once again lost to Captain America.

“Damn, I for sure thought I was gonna win,” Sam said. “Could’ve sworn I saw you stumble back there.”

“Must’ve been seeing things then.”

The two smiled at each other good naturedly before Steph took her foot off of Sam’s chest and then offered a hand to help him up. It took some effort to help him up, and she got a little dizzy when she did, nearly falling back. This action did not go unnoticed by Sam, and he grabbed a hold of her arm to make sure she didn’t fall.

“Whoa, easy there, Cap! Did I knock you around too much?” he asked in a jesting but concerned tone.

“I’m still standing, aren’t I?” Steph said with a smile on her face. “I just need some water, that’s all.”

Sam still looked concerned, but he only nodded and they both walked off the matts towards the bench where their gym bags were. Sam took a large gulp out of his water bottle while Steph took at least three large gulps of water from her rather large water jug.

“So, you feeling better now?” Sam asked her once she was done drinking out of her water jug.

“Yeah, feeling a little winded, but other than that, I’m alright,” Steph replied.

Sam didn’t notice for he looked away, but Steph was nearly swaying from side to side and she had to sit down on the bench to stop herself from feeling as if she was about to faint.

“You should probably go take that nap then, you look like you’re about ready to crash.”

“I’ll be fine,” Steph insisted. “I gotta go talk to Tony, anyway, I have some ideas about updating his security systems. I rather get working on that before Zemo even tries thinking about attacking us.”

“Alright, but then take a nap right after that,” Sam said in a stern, commanding tone.

“Are you trying to tell your captain what to do?” Steph asked in a playful tone. “I thought that was my job.”

“Only to get you to stop overworking yourself,” Sam said with a smile on his face that Steph returned. “I’ll see you later, Cap.”

Steph got up and grabbed her gym back, heading up to her room to take a shower. As she walked, she felt very light-headed and it got to a point where Steph had to stop because she couldn’t see straight. She then felt herself falling before everything went black. Sam, who had his back turned towards Steph, heard a noise behind him as if something had fallen, and he turned around only to find, to his horror, that Steph was on the ground and unconscious. Stopping what he was doing, he ran over to Steph and tried shaking her awake.

“Steph? Steph?!”

When Sam did not get a response, he checked for her pulse. It was still there, which told Sam that Steph had just fainted, but the fact that she even fainted at all gave him cause for concern.

“FRIDAY, get Bruce down here  _ now! _ ” he ordered the AI.

“Yes, Mr. Wilson.”

It wasn’t that long before Sam heard the thundering footsteps of Bruce, and he charged in, practically ripping the doors down. Immediately, he went over to where Sam was kneeling over Steph.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Sam said. “We were just sparring with each other. I heard something that sounded like it fell, and I turned around only to see Steph unconscious. What’s wrong with her, Bruce?”

“There must be something wrong with the serum that I missed,” Bruce responded more to himself than to Sam.

“What?” Sam said. “What’s going on with the serum?”

“I am going to take her to the hospital ward,” Bruce replied, ignoring Sam’s question. “Go get Tony, tell him what happened.”

Bruce then lifted Steph in his arms, now able to do it real easily since he had more control over the Hulk. He then began to run out of the room towards the hospital ward.

“Bruce, what’s going on with the serum?” Sam called out to him.

“I’ll explain later, just go get Tony!” was all Bruce said to him.

Sam got frustrated at not knowing what was going on, but he went and did what Bruce told him to do, practically running out of the gym and up the stairs to get Tony. Meanwhile, Tony was in his office going over some new security features with FRIDAY that he has been working on since breakfast. As he was going over them, he couldn’t help but think of Steph.

Something was definitely up with her. What it was, that he couldn’t say for sure, but he could tell she was keeping something from him. Either that or she just didn’t know how to tell him whatever she was hiding. He was hoping it was more of the latter and that she wasn’t going to keep any more important secrets from him, he thought they had gotten past that. It was then that he was interrupted when Rhodey walked in.

“Hey, whatcha workin’ on?” Rhodey asked as he approached Tony and stood right beside him.

“Just updating our security systems just in case, you know, Zemo tries to attack us,” Tony replied. “I don’t really want to lose anyone else after…after certain people have died.”

Rhodey gave him a look of understanding with a bit of grief passing over his features as he thought of Pepper’s passing.

“Have you and Steph talked to each other since returning the stones?” Rhodey asked.

Tony shook his head no, looking down at the ground as if feeling ashamed.

“Feel like I’ve barely had time to talk to her about it, especially since I am now once again the CEO of Stark Industries.”

“I’m sure you’ll find the time,” Rhodey said. “I just wouldn’t wait too long to talk to her.”

Tony nodded in understanding, knowing that Rhodey was right. He did need to talk to Steph before she got tired of waiting on him. Then again, Steph had the patience of a saint, now that Tony thought about it. But Rhodey was right, he could not wait too long; otherwise, there will be resentment between them once again.

“Have you noticed anything strange with Steph lately?” Tony asked Rhodey all of a sudden.

Rhodey appeared to think about it for a moment.

“She seems more moodier than usual, but other than that, nothing really,” he finally replied. “I figured it may have something to do with that time of the month or something. Why do you ask?”

Tony sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration, turning and walking away from what he was working on. He turned back to face Rhodey, and the latter could see the worried look on his friend’s face.

“I’m worried about her,” Tony said. “Yesterday, I got a notice from FRIDAY telling me that Steph was sick, and she hardly ever gets sick. I was worried, so I called her, and she got a little snippy with me over it. She keeps saying it’s food poisoning, but I’m not sure if I believe her. She threw up again this morning and then today at breakfast…it was as if she could not even stand the smell of her food, didn’t even touch her coffee, and nearly fainted when she got up all of a sudden.”

“Maybe she’s just having a bad case of that time of the month?” Rhodey suggested.

“No, I know what it is usually like for her, this ain’t that. What if it is something worse than that? What if she is dying and not telling me?”

“I do not think she is dying, Tony,” Rhodey said. “Plus, I think she would know better from the first time than to keep secrets from you.”

“Then, what is she hiding from me? Why does she feel the need to keep secrets from me?” Tony asked. “She doesn’t need to keep things from me in order to protect me, I’m a man. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

“Maybe it is not so much about protecting you, Tony, but  _ how  _ to tell you,” Rhodey said. “We all just suffered a great loss. She’s probably just trying to find a way to tell you without feeling as if she’s adding more stress than you already have. Just give her time, I’m sure she’ll come around and eventually tell you.”

Tony appeared to relax after hearing that, feeling a little less worried now. It was quiet between the two long-time best friends for a moment when, all of sudden, FRIDAY called out to Tony in such an alarmed tone that it scared them both and put them on edge.

“Boss!”

“FRIDAY, what is it? Is it Zemo?”

“No, Boss, it’s Captain Rogers, she’s fainted.”

At that, Tony and Rhodey looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.

“Where?” Tony asked FRIDAY.

“In the gym, boss,” FRIDAY replied. “Dr. Banner is already bringing her to the hospital ward, and Mr. Wilson is on his way right now to you.”

But Tony did not bother waiting for Sam. After hearing the information from FRIDAY, he immediately bolted out of the room and ran towards the hospital ward with Rhodey right behind him. They took the stairs instead of the elevator to get to the hospital ward. On their way there, they ran into Sam who was already sweaty and out of breath by the time he reached them.

“How?!” Tony demanded.

“I don’t know,” Sam replied in between breaths. “We were doing one-on-one training. She was standing one minute and then the next thing I knew, she was unconscious.”

“You were doing one-on-one training while she was sick? What the hell were you thinking, Wilson?!” Tony shouted in an accusing tone.

“She said she was fine to do it…”

“Really, Wilson? You, of all people, should know better than that! If anything happens to her, it’s all on you.”

Tony pushed past Sam and continued running toward the hospital ward with Sam watching him run with a guilty expression on his face. Rhodey assured him real quick before they ran after Tony. By the time Tony had gotten to the hospital ward, Steph was already there, still unconscious, with Bruce and Dr. Helen Cho already there running tests.

“Steph!” Tony cried as he ran towards the side of her bed. “Steph, baby, please wake up!”

“Mr. Stark,” Helen began in a gentle but stern tone, “I know you want to be with her right now, but I think it’s best if you step outside for right now—”

“Don’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t do, just tell me what’s going on with Steph!” Tony snapped, interrupting her.

“That’s what we are trying to do right now, Mr. Stark,” Dr. Cho replied. “Please, step outside and let Dr. Banner and I do our jobs.”

“No, I don’t want to leave her…”

“Tony, Dr. Cho is right,” Bruce said as he laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “We have to do our jobs in figuring out what is wrong, and we can’t do that with you hovering over her like this.”

“But I—”

“Trust me, as soon as we figure out what’s going on, you’ll be the first to know, okay? Come on, Tony, let’s wait outside…”

With great reluctance, Tony let go of Steph’s hand, and Bruce ushered him out of the room. He shut the door after Tony, and the clear glass walls became less clear when Bruce shut the door, so the only thing Tony could really see were figures walking around the room. Just seeing that and not being able to know what was going on made him anxious, and he wished desperately he could be in there.

“Stark!”

Tony turned at the sound of his name being called and saw the rest of the Avengers running towards him.

“I heard that Stephanie fell,” Thor said once they all reached him. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Tony replied. “By the time I got here, she was still unconscious and I just got kicked out. I should be in there with her, not out here.”

“Stark, it will be okay,” Thor said. “Stephanie is strong, she will pull through.”

“How do you know that, O God of Lightning?” Tony snapped at him. “What if there is something much worse going on and she is minutes away from her deathbed? And I can’t be in there for her because I’m stuck out here, not knowing what the fuck is going on!”

“Tony,” Rhodey called out to him in a gentle but stern tone, putting a hand on his chest as if to calm him down. “Calm down, there is no use shouting at people and it’s going to lead you nowhere. Just remain calm, we’ll know more as soon as Bruce and Dr. Cho do, okay?”

This calmed down Tony a little bit. Rhodey was right: there was no use in yelling at others, it was going to get him nowhere and not know what was going on with Steph any faster. The best thing he had to do now was wait, and Tony hated waiting, but what could he do? He sighed in frustration as he ran his hand through his face and hair, lacing his fingers together on the back of his neck as he paced back and forth, waiting anxiously on an update on Steph.

The minutes ticked by and the Avengers were still waiting outside of the hospital ward for an update on Steph. It felt like hours to Tony as they waited, but in actuality, it was only a little over an hour. By that time, when Tony had seemingly calmed down, Wanda approached him and sat on the floor right next to him.

“I suppose I should go up to the others and apologize, right?” Tony asked her.

“They understand that you didn’t mean it,” Wanda replied. “You’re grieving and now you’re worried about losing another one. I more than anything know how you are feeling.”

Tony said nothing in response, only looking towards the room nervously.

“She is going to be okay, Tony.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just know.”

This time, Tony looked away from the room to Wanda with a confused expression on his face. Before he could ask what she meant by that, the door to Steph’s hospital room opened, and Bruce and Dr. Cho stepped out. As soon as they did, all the Avengers jumped up with Tony getting up and practically running towards them and being the first one to approach them.

“Well, what’s going on? Is she okay?” Tony asked them.

“Captain Rogers is fine,” Dr. Cho answered. “She just fainted, that is all, but she is currently awake right now.”

Everyone sighed in relief at hearing that.

“Were you able to figure out why she fainted?” Sam asked.

Dr. Cho and Bruce gave each other a knowing look before briefly glancing at Tony. This did not go unnoticed by him, and it had him worried that something was definitely wrong.

“She will tell you all in due time, but right now, she wishes to speak with Tony…alone,” Bruce said, and he turned his attention to Tony. “You can go ahead and go in, Tony, she’s got something important she needs to tell you.”

That did not necessarily make Tony feel any better, but the anxiety of knowing what was wrong with her was much stronger, and he desperately wanted to know if the person he loved was going to be alright. So, he walked into the room without hesitation where he saw Steph was already awake and sitting up on her bed, and she gave him a small smile when she saw him walk in. Seeing this made Tony glad, but worried at the same time, for she looked exhausted. Shutting the door behind him, he walked towards her bed and sat in the chair that was right next to her bed on her right side.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Tony asked her as he sat down in the chair and grabbed a hold of her hand.

“Feeling like I could sleep for a day or two, but other than that, I’m okay,” Steph replied. “I also feel like I could eat a whole stack of pancakes right now.”

“I’ll make sure to bring you some after this,” Tony said, glad that she at least had her appetite back. “You gave me quite a fright earlier when FRIDAY told me you fainted. Glad to see that you are doing okay, at least I think you are. Bruce told me that you have something to tell me. What’s going on? And please for the love of god, do not say it’s food poisoning or I’m gonna scream because I know it’s not that.”

Steph nearly laughed at that, even though it looked as if she was about to cry, and gave him a nervous look.

“You’re right, it’s not, I’m sorry, I just…I didn’t know how to tell you without feeling as if I was going to stress you out even more than you already were…”

Suddenly, the words of what Rhodey said to him earlier came across Tony’s mind. However, that still did not explain what was going on with Steph.

“Steph, what’s going on?” Tony asked.

Steph looked Tony in the eye with a rather apprehensive look on her face, and she opened her mouth to say something, but then she closed it back. Suddenly, Tony saw tears starting to shine in her eyes and she began to cry, taking him completely by surprise but also worrying him at the same time. Whatever was going on with Steph must be pretty serious if she was struggling to tell him that it was making her cry.

“God, I can’t do this!” she cried out suddenly in between tears. “There is just too much going on and we aren’t ready for this! It is too soon after everything that has happened!”

Steph continued to sob after her sudden burst out, and Tony was both worried and confused at the same time. What in the hell was going on?!

“Steph, what are you talking about?” Tony asked. “Not ready for what exactly?”

Steph sighed, wiping her tears away, and looked at Tony dead in the eyes.

“I’m pregnant.”

For a moment, Tony thought he had lost his hearing, that he did not hear Steph correctly, but after realizing that she did in fact say that she was pregnant, he became shocked and let go of her hand. His eyes went wide and his mouth was hanging open, and it was a while before he was able to find his voice.

“Wh-what? You-you’re pregnant?” he asked, and Steph nodded. “How far along?”

“According to the test Bruce and Helen just did, I am currently just a little over seven weeks pregnant.”

Tony says nothing at first as he leaned back in his chair, processing the shock of this new information. Suddenly, everything made sense now and it all started clicking in place: Steph’s sudden mood swings, her throwing up and getting nauseous, and sudden cravings for certain foods. She wasn’t dying, she was pregnant! And if Tony remembered correctly, he never used a condom the night he and Steph had sex about a month and a half ago. He suddenly began to feel happy, so happy that tears began to form in his eyes, and he put his hand over his mouth, hiding the smile that was spreading across his face.

“Oh, my god, you’re pregnant, I can’t believe this…”

“I know, but it happened. What do you think we should do?”

“Wait, what do you mean what you think we should do?” Tony asked, suddenly confused on where this conversation was going.

It was Steph’s turn to be confused.

“Aren’t you upset with me?”

“Why on earth did you think I’d be upset with you?” Tony asked.

“I just…I thought since there is so much going on what with us grieving over Natasha and Pepper and you once again becoming the CEO of Stark Industries and trying to rebuild the Avengers facility, I thought you’d be even more stressed out,” Steph replied. “And we haven’t even had time to talk about us as a result…”

Suddenly, everything made sense to Tony why Steph did not tell Tony right away about what was going on, and he began to feel bad. Having wallowed in his grief about Pepper’s passing and transitioning into becoming CEO of his company once more, he realized he neglected the one thing that was important to him and that was his relationship with Stephanie. He really wished he had taken more time to put effort into their relationship. No time like the present now, right?

He grabbed a hold of her hand once more, making Steph look at him with her tear-stained face.

“I know I haven’t been there for you in your own grief these past couple weeks, and I’m sorry,” Tony said. “I was allowing myself to wallow in my own that I didn’t take the time to focus on us. I have no excuse for that or for not being there for you, but I want you to know that I am absolutely happy at hearing this news.”

“Really? You’re happy about the baby?” Steph asked with a bit of a hopeful tone in her voice.

“More than I can even describe,” Tony replied with a reassuring smile.

Steph then began to cry again and this time they were tears of joy, glad to hear that he was happy about her being pregnant and not as upset as she originally thought he would be. Tony noticed this, and he immediately put his arms around Steph, pulling her into a hug, letting her cry onto his shoulder just as she allowed him to do the same last night. It was a minute before Steph finally pulled away from the embrace and calmed down, her tears turning into sniffles now.

“God, I’m so emotional, I need to get myself together,” Steph said as she wiped her tears away.

“Probably has to do with the hormones,” Tony replied.

Steph responded with a laugh and said, “Shut up.”

Tony smiled at that, suddenly feeling so much lighter and happier than he has been in what felt like a long time now. He couldn’t wait to tell the others and Pepper only to stop and realize that Pepper was gone and he couldn’t tell her about the joyous news about him becoming a father. Steph must have noticed the sad look on his face, for she gave him a look of understanding and pressed a hand to his cheek, making Tony look up at her.

“I know, I wish Natasha was here too so I could tell her,” she began, “but I know that they are both watching over us and are happy for us.”

Tony gave her a small, grateful smile in response, knowing that she was right. Still, he wished there was some way he could tell Pepper. He was brought out of his depressing thoughts when Steph appeared to get serious.

“We have to figure out what we are going to do with this situation in regards to the public,” she said. “With me being pregnant, I can’t go out into the field anymore, and the public will begin to question that. And now with Zemo out on the loose, I’m worried of what will happen to our baby if word ever got out that I’m pregnant with your child.”

Now that Steph brought that up, Tony too began to worry about that. Steph was right: with Zemo on the loose, the life of their unborn child would be in danger. Not only Zemo but other enemies as well would use it against him and the Avengers if anyone found out that Tony and Steph were having a child. As much as Tony wanted to announce to the whole world about this wonderful news, he knew that he had to take precautions when it came to the safety of his unborn child.

“We’ll figure it out,” Tony finally said. “We’ll come up with a story, say that you are taking a bit of time away from the field but still involved in Avenger activities. You’ll probably have to wear clothes to hide the pregnancy whenever you go out in public the further you get in your pregnancy, and we will probably have to find other ways to make sure that it doesn’t get to the public eye, but we’ll figure it out. I promise, I’ll do the best I can to protect her before and after she is born.”

“Her?” Steph repeated with a bit of a smile on her face. “How do you know it’s a girl? What if it’s a boy?”

“Just a feeling I have,” Tony replied with a grin on his face.

Steph giggled at that before she smiled at him. They stared at each other for a long moment, and Tony then leaned up, giving Steph a kiss on the lips. After they pulled away, Steph was reminded of something as she glanced towards the door of her room.

“We should probably tell the others the news, I’m sure they’re worried and wondering what’s going on,” she said.

“Probably Sam more than anything, I think he feels he may have pushed you too hard and killed you,” Tony replied.

“Did you say something to him?” Steph asked, giving him a suspicious glare.

“…maybe.”

“Tony…” Steph began in a warning and exasperated tone.

“I know, I know, I’ll go and apologize to him. Do you want to tell them now?”

Steph nodded her head yes, so Tony got up and went to the door to tell the rest of the team they can come in. When Tony opened the door to tell them that, the rest of the Avengers could see that Tony looked a lot happier than he did before, and it made them wonder why. They all followed Tony into the room and they crowded around the bed Steph was in with Tony going back to stand right next to her, grabbing a hold of her hand.

“So, what’s going on?” Rhodey asked. “Y’all look like you got something big to tell us. What’s going on?”

“You aren’t dying, are you, Cap?” Sam asked with a hint of worry in his tone.

“No, it’s nothing serious like that, we have something much more happier to tell you guys,” Steph said. “I’m…that is, Tony and I, we’re having a baby.”

“Wait, you and Tony are having a what now?”

“I’m pregnant, currently a little over 7 weeks pregnant,” Steph said as she put a hand over her stomach as if to show them, even though she wasn’t showing a bump at all.

It was quiet for the first few seconds as the team all stared at Steph and Tony in shock, save for Wanda, Bruce, and Helen. All the Avengers who did not know looked to Bruce and Helen as if to confirm if this was true or not, and Bruce and Helen responded with smiles on their faces and a nod to confirm it was true. It was Rhodey who broke the silence first.

“I call dibs on being the godfather!”

“Rhodey, you can’t call dibs on being the godfather,” Carol replied. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“I did, just now, so that automatically makes me the godfather.”

“No it does not!”

“Oh, my god, no way! You’re  _ pregnant?! _ ”

“This is the most joyous news I have heard in a long time!”

“Congratulations!”

Pretty soon, everyone had gone up to Tony and Steph, either shaking hands or hugging them to congratulate them on the happy news with most people hugging Steph. Valkyrie shook Steph’s hand, congratulating her, while Carol and Wanda hugged her with the latter giving her a genuine smile and telling Steph how happy she was for her. It was then that Sam came up to her, and Steph could see a smile as well as a look of relief on his face.

“Wow, I guess I need to find a new sparring partner, huh?” he asked her.

“I guess you do,” Steph said with a smirk on her face before fixing him with a mock glare. “Now just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I won’t push you to train, so you better not slack off, soldier!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sam replied with a grin on his face.

He hugged her, once again congratulating her on being pregnant, before reaching out a hand for Tony to shake. Tony shook it, thanking him and then apologized to him for what he said earlier, to which Sam just shrugged off and said it was not a big deal and that he understood where Tony was coming from.

The Avengers all talked amongst each other even long after Tony and Steph told them the news. Many of them were making suggestions on what Tony and Steph could do in order to protect Steph during the pregnancy while Zemo was still on the loose, what to name their child if it was a boy or girl. Some were even arguing about who would get to be the godparent with Rhodey arguing more than anything that he gets to be the godfather. It was sometime around the second hour that Steph’s eyes began to get a little droopy, and that is when Bruce and Helen ushered everyone out so that Steph could rest.

The only person who was allowed to stay with Steph was Tony, being the father of her child to be and all. Even though Steph was tired beyond reason, she gave Tony a smile, feeling something that she had not felt in a long time: hope. She could tell that Tony felt the same, for he was giving her a smile and looking at her with a hopeful gaze in his eyes. As they cuddled with each other once Tony climbed onto the bed with her, Steph felt safe and warmth spread throughout her entire body when Tony kissed her on her forehead as she fell asleep in his arms. It felt like for the first time in a while that they had something to look forward to in the future, and it made Steph have hope that everything was going to be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that you can name more than one person as the godparent? I did not know this until my best friend named me and our other best friend the godmothers to her daughter. And that bit about Sam having a sister, it is true, at least in the comics. I have no idea what the Marvel Cinematic Universe plans on doing in regards to Sam's family background, but we shall see and I am SO EXCITED for Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+!!!!
> 
> Before you ask, yes, I am making Carol and Rhodey get together, just as they did in the comics. I honestly ship them and think they make an awesome couple.


	3. Naming Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is 9-months later and Steph and Tony's child is born

_ 9 Months Later, mid-January 2020 _

Well, during Steph’s first trimester and a couple weeks into her second trimester, both Tony and Steph managed to keep Steph’s pregnancy under wraps and away from the public eye. As Tony said, he made an announcement to the public, letting them know that Steph was taking a step back from the field to focus on healing from her grief over the loss the Avengers’ had suffered. Considering the announcement came not too long after the passing of Natasha Romanoff and Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, the public believed it. Only a select few people knew about Steph’s pregnancy outside of the Avengers and that was Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Bucky, and Peter.

Bucky had been ecstatic when he found out, hugging her with happy tears nearly brimming in his eyes. Peter did not find out until after he had gotten back from his vacation, visiting the Stark Tower to return Tony’s glasses that were stolen by Mysterio. When he realized that Steph was pregnant, Peter had gotten so excited that he began talking so rapidly in one breath that Tony and Steph had to remind him to breathe. Fury’s reaction had been comical when Steph first told him, laughing hysterically when she heard him cursing up a storm. And Hill, who was usually rather stoic in nature, had screamed in excitement upon hearing the news, making it very obvious of how happy she was for both Tony and Steph.

It really made Steph happy to see so many people she cared about excited for her, and it made both her and Tony even more excited to meet their little one. They got the shock of their life, though, when the secret of Steph’s pregnancy was revealed to the public. Needless to say, Tony had been  _ pissed _ and threatened to sue the publishing company that revealed it.

They later found out that the reveal of Steph’s pregnancy to the public was because of Peter through means that was no fault of his own. He had been talking to his best friend Ned and girlfriend Michelle privately and told them that Steph was pregnant, making them swear not to tell anyone, and a classmate, who was well known for giving Peter a hard time, had recorded the conversation and sold the tape to a publishing company. Ever since his outing as the superhero Spider-Man, Peter had been thrust into a spotlight that he worked so hard to avoid and now had to get used to. At first, Tony had been upset with Peter, for he felt as if Peter had potentially put a target not only on Steph’s life, but the life of hers and Tony’s unborn child. After talking with Steph, though, he realized he had reacted too harshly towards Peter and apologized to him, and then had a very stern talk with Peter’s classmate. Neither Steph nor Peter knew what was said, but whatever was said, it was enough to get Peter’s classmate to apologize profusely to Peter, something the former was known for not really doing, and took the money back that was given to him by the publishing company.

Other than that, Steph’s pregnancy was a breeze. She was just thankful when her first trimester was over because that nausea was killing her! It had finally passed once she reached her second trimester, and she began to show a bump about halfway through her second trimester. Since the public knew about Steph being pregnant, she did not really need to hide the fact that she was pregnant, and many fans of hers gushed over her pregnant belly whenever she went outside. It made her feel warmhearted to see so many people be excited for her, although she could have done without the well-intentioned advice on what she should do on how to take care and raise  _ her _ child.

Both Tony and Steph were pretty busy still throughout Steph’s pregnancy, but this time, Tony took time to spend time with Steph, instead of letting himself suffer in his grief alone, as much as he could. Now, both of them had their duties with Tony being the CEO of Stark Industries and Steph being the leader of the Avengers on top of preparing to become parents, and they were living in a place that felt cramped due to the many superheroes living in the same area. It was very stressful for the parents-to-be, and it is why Tony wanted to get the Avengers facility rebuilt as soon as possible. With most of his time focused on his company and worrying about him becoming a father soon, he did not have much time to focus on rebuilding the facility, so Steph took over for him. She had more time to do that now that she was on a temporary hiatus from fieldwork, helping Tony design it and visiting the construction site to go over things and making sure things were done right. Whenever Steph was unsure about something, she would go over it with Tony who would then either approve or not approve or add edits when it came to designing the new facility. So, with Stephanie’s help and the hard work of the construction workers they hired, Tony and Steph were able to complete rebuilding the facility by the time Steph was already halfway through her third trimester.

All the Avengers had moved into the brand new facility after that. The facility was much like the old one, the only difference is that a nursery room was added next to Tony and Steph’s room so that their little one could have their own room once it came to this world. They already had the crib, changing station, and toys for the baby. The only thing that wasn’t complete was the painting of the nursery. Tony wanted to paint the nursery already, he was convinced that they were going to have a girl and even a lot of their teammates believed she was going to have a girl, but Steph was old-fashioned and wanted the gender to be a surprise like it was back in the day, so she did not want to paint the nursery or design it until their child was here. Tony had pouted when she would not let the technician tell them the sex of their child during one of her ultrasound appointments. He even begged her, but Steph had refused and would not budge, so Tony had let it go eventually.

With Steph being in her third trimester, everyone was waiting in anticipation for the child of Stephanie Rogers and Tony Stark to be born. Tony was definitely excited, but he was also scared at the same time as he often worried about being a good father to his unborn child and it took a lot of reassurance from Steph and Rhodey that he will be a wonderful father. All of their teammates were excited, but no one wanted this child to be born more than Steph did. People often kept telling Steph how she was ‘glowing’, and she really was. But while this pregnancy had been one exciting and joyous ride for both Steph and Tony, by god, did she just want this baby out  _ now! _

She was tired of the swollen ankles, the constant fatigue, and the backache that came from her swollen belly from making hers and Tony’s child. She was ready for this baby to be born already. Currently, Steph was at her fortieth week and going into her forty-first week, if the baby did not come soon. So now, it was just a matter of waiting for the baby to come, and Steph hoped it was soon because she was tired of being pregnant.

It was one morning that the baby had finally decided to come. Steph had woken up to feeling some cramps in her lower abdomen that were really painful, and she focused on breathing in and out, just as she was taught, until the pain finally subsided. Believing that the cramps were just another Braxton hicks, Steph thought nothing more of it and got up to go down to the dining hall for breakfast. She was just thankful that Tony was not here to witness her experiencing cramps as he was on a business trip down in Florida. He would get overexcited every time she had a cramp, and it was beginning to drive her nuts! She walked to the dining hall where she saw that Bruce, Wanda, Rhodey, and Carol were already there.

“Hey, there is the beautiful mother-to-be!” Rhodey exclaimed once he saw her walking in the room. “How are you feeling today?”

“Like I am ready for this baby to come out of me already,” Steph replied in a bit of a sarcastic manner, but in actuality was being serious.

She then sat down and served herself a cup of coffee and added some eggs, bacon, and a bunch of pancakes to her plate.

“Don’t worry, baby mama,” Carol said. “She’ll be coming soon, you’re like, what? Almost forty weeks pregnant right now?”

“Exactly forty weeks pregnant, actually, and will be forty-one if the baby does not come soon.”

Steph felt another contraction and she doubled over in pain. Everyone who was in the room saw this and stopped what they were doing with both Rhodey and Bruce looking as if they were getting ready for an emergency.

“What is it? Is it the baby? Is it coming?” Bruce asked with a bit of excitement in his tone, rushing over to check on Steph.

“Both of you, calm down,” Steph snapped at Bruce and Rhodey. “You two are just as bad as Tony, and he gets overexcited enough as it is. It was just another Braxton hick, it’s nothing to get too excited about.”

“Leave her alone, you two,” Carol said. “I am very sure she would be able to tell if she was about to have the baby or not.”

“I think your man is just excited to meet his goddaughter and is impatient,” Wanda said to Carol with a bit of a mischievous smirk on her face, taking a sip of her tea.

“Godchild,” Steph corrected her. “We still don’t know the sex of the child.”

“True, but I still have a feeling that it’s going to be a girl,” Wanda said.

“So does Tony,” Steph replied. “He keeps trying to convince me to paint and design the nursery accordingly.”

“And knowing how firm you are, you probably keep telling him no,” Rhodey said with a smirk on his face.

“Exactly.”

All of the Avengers who were there chuckled in response, and they all ate their breakfast while chatting amongst each other as they did. Some of the rest of the Avengers came up, such as Sam, Thor, and Hope who just recently become initiated along with Scott. As they ate, Steph kept on feeling contractions, which gave her teammates reason to be concerned, but she would brush them off every time. It was not until Steph felt something wet down below and she reached a hand down only to feel that her yoga pants were damp, and she came to the realization that she was, in fact, going into labor.

“Bruce?”

“Yeah?”

“My water just broke…”

At this, her teammates stopped what they were doing and stared at Steph in disbelief.

“Are you being serious right now?” Bruce asked.

Steph nodded in response, and it was quiet for a moment before the team went into action. Bruce immediately got up from his seat and started giving out commands.

“Thor, go call Steph’s gynecologist,” he commanded. “Let her know that Steph’s water just broke. Sam, Wanda, stay with her and help her get comfortable, help her through the contractions. Make sure no one is crowding her and that she has her space. I am going to go grab a wheelchair from the hospital ward. I’ll be back, Steph, so hang on tight!”

Thor and Bruce left the room, but Steph was only able to process the fact they had left the room a few seconds after they did. In that moment, she realized that after nine long months of waiting, Steph was about to meet hers’ and Tony’s child, and it made her ecstatic but scared at the same time. Then, she remembered that Tony was out of town in Florida, and she immediately thought she needed to tell Tony. She did not want him to miss the birth of his child.

“Rhodey, call Tony, tell him what is going on,” she said to Rhodey.

“But Tony is currently giving a speech at one of the universities in Florida…”

“Rhodey, call Tony  _ now!  _ I will not have him miss the birth of our child, especially when he promised to be there.”

Carol and Wanda gave Rhodey a look that told him not to argue any further with Steph, and he did not want to argue with Steph who was going into labor right now anyway. So, he turned around and left the room to go notify Tony. Not too long after Rhodey left, Steph felt a painful contraction go through her and she cried out in pain, and Sam and Wanda helped soothe her and reminded her to breathe. She was grateful to have people around her to help her out, but who she really wanted to be there was Tony.

She just hoped that he got the message in time for him to fly and be there for the birth of their child.

* * *

Tony was currently down in Miami, Florida where he was giving a speech at one of the universities to students on the quantum realm with Hank Pym and his wife. He had just finished his speech with the whole auditorium clapping once he did. It was then that the emcee had asked the audience if they had any questions for Tony and Hank and his wife, and a bunch of hands went up.

“Does anyone have questions that pertain to the subject and have nothing whatsoever to do with my unborn child or the Battle for Earth?” Tony asked the audience.

He knew from past experience that people had a tendency of asking him questions that had nothing to do with the subject of the topic. As he expected, he saw a few hands go down, and he pointed to one person towards the front row. It was during the question and answer session that Tony received the notice that Steph was going into labor.

Happy was there watching from the backstage of the auditorium when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he saw that Rhodey was calling.

“Hey, Rhodey, the boss is still busy, he’s gonna have to take a message,” he said.

He paused for a moment as he listened to Rhodey talk on the other line, and his eyes went wide as he did.

“Are you serious? Hang on, let me call you back.”

He then hung up and went out to the stage to inform Tony. The backstage crew tried to stop him, and the commotion caused everyone in the auditorium to turn their attention away from Tony to Happy.

“Happy, what are you doing?” Tony asked him once he managed to fight off the stage crew and get to Tony. “I am in the middle of something right now, if you can’t already tell…”

“Sorry, boss, but this is important, it couldn’t wait.”

“What is it?”

Happy leaned and whispered something in Tony’s ear, and the latter’s eyes went wide upon hearing what Happy told him.

“Are you serious? Right now?” Tony asked in a disbelieving tone.

Happy nodded to confirm, and it was as if Tony had been frozen in shock. ‘ _ Oh my god, I am about to become a father! _ ’ he thought. He was not able to move or say anything for a while until Happy shook him that he was able to come out of his shock and realized he needed to get back to New York. He turned back to the audience where he could now see them looking at him rather curiously and muttering to themselves on what was happening.

“Uh, so sorry, I’m afraid I am gonna have to cut this short,” Tony said to the audience. “Emergency situation. Dr. Pym, why don’t you answer this young man’s question?”

He ran off the stage before Hank or anyone else could even respond with Happy following not too far behind him. It made people wonder what could possibly make Tony Stark leave so abruptly during a meeting. It wasn’t until a few minutes after Tony left and Hank and Janet Pym took over the question and answer session that some people came to the conclusion that there could only be one reason: Captain Stephanie Rogers was about to give birth.

* * *

Steph was not sure how long it has been since her water broke, she had lost track of time since then. The only thing that she had been focused on was trying to go through the contractions and kept on asking if Tony was on his way, worried that he would not make it in time. She did not want him to miss this moment and she hoped that the baby would at least wait until it’s father arrived.

As she breathed in and out during the contractions, Steph could not help but think of all the stuff she has been through throughout the years as both Captain America and an Avenger. She has been shot at, stabbed, tortured, blasted at by both bombs and ray guns; she even had her bones broken a couple of times. If anyone would ask her prior to her labor, Steph would say that being blasted by an alien ray gun probably hurt more than anything, but the pain of giving birth was  _ nothing _ compared to other kinds of physical pain she has gone through. This pain was  _ excruciating! _ She would take getting shot at by alien ray guns a thousand times over this. Giving birth was painful beyond belief, and she was currently only seven centimeters dilated!

After going through another contraction, she groaned in pain and leaned back on her bed. She heard Wanda and Carol on each side of her with Wanda on her right and Carol on her left, and they were soothing her with both of them holding onto her hand and rubbing soothing gestures over the back of Steph’s hand with the other.

“Where is Tony? Is he almost here?” Steph asked Rhodey who was on her left side standing right next to Carol.

“I just got word from Happy that Tony has been informed and he is currently flying over here,” Rhodey replied. “That was almost a little over thirty minutes ago, though. Do you want me to call him and see if he is going to be here soon?”

“Please, I don’t want him to miss this,” Steph practically begged. “With how fast I am dilating, our child may be here before he does, and I want him to be here when it is born.”

“Don’t worry, Steph, he’ll be here,” Wanda reassured. “He’s determined, always has been, and he will find a way to get here before your child is born.”

“I’ll be back, I’m gonna call Tony and see how far he is right now,” Rhodey said as he patted Steph on her knee in a reassuring way.

Steph only nodded in response, and Rhodey left the room to go call Tony. It was not too long after Rhodey left that Steph’s gynecologist came back in the room to check how far Steph’s cervix was dilated. She had Steph lift and spread her legs apart so that she could check the opening of her cervix.

“Oh, wow, you are already nine centimeters dilated, Captain Rogers,” the gynecologist said in a surprise tone.

“What?!” Steph cried out in alarm. “Already?”

“Yep, I’d imagine you should be ready to push in the next ten to fifteen minutes.”

“Oh, god!” Steph cried as she laid herself back on the bed as if it was hopeless, feeling tears brimming in her eyes. “He’s not going to make it, he’s going to miss our child being born!”

“Don’t think like that, Stephanie, he will make it,” Carol said, trying to reassure her.

“Not at the rate I am dilating, she’ll be here soon…”

“It,” Wanda suddenly said, confusing Steph.

“What?”

“You said she, I’m merely correcting you since you always corrected us,” Wanda explained.

Steph gave a small chuckle and said, “Shut up.”

Both Wanda and Carol merely smiled at her in response. Just then, another painful contraction came through, and Steph cried out in pain. Wanda, Carol, and the gynecologist helped Steph through the contraction with both Wanda and Carol holding onto her hand and the gynecologist instructing her when to breathe in and out. Once the contraction had subsided, Steph groaned in relief and laid back against the bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want an epidural, Captain Rogers?” the gynecologist asked.

Steph was tempted to say yes as she hesitated, thinking whether or not she should accept her doctor’s suggestion. Then, she remembered the reasons why she decided not to take an epidural and shook her head yes.

“I am sure,” she said. “If I can take being shot or blasted at by alien ray guns, I can take giving birth.”

Even though giving birth is probably more painful than being shot at by an alien, she did not want to take the epidural. The gynecologist nodded in understanding and then told Steph that she will be back in five to ten minutes to check on Steph.

“Where’s Rhodey?” Steph asked after the gynecologist left. “He should have been back by now.”

“I am not sure, do you want me to see what’s keeping him?” Carol asked.

“No, I want you here, perhaps…” Steph began before another contraction came. She had to stop what she was about to say and focused on her breathing, holding onto Wanda and Carol’s hands tightly until the contraction subsided. “Whew, this child is giving me a hard time right now.”

“Well, it is yours and Tony’s child, I’d imagine it’s gonna be a handful when it gets older.”

“Don’t remind me,” Steph replied. “Perhaps FRIDAY can see where Rhodey is. FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers?” FRIDAY answered.

“Where’s Rhodey?”

“Colonel Rhodes had stepped outside of the facility real quick, but he is currently on his way back,” FRIDAY replied.

“Stepped outside? What for? I thought he was calling Tony real quick…”

“He did, he was just meeting the Boss outside.”

At hearing FRIDAY say that, Steph felt her spirits become elevated.

“Tony’s here?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers.”

“Oh, thank god,” Steph said, breathing a huge sigh of relief.

“Told you Stark would be here on time,” Carol said to her in a knowing tone.

“Aren’t you supposed to be nice to your pregnant captain who is about to give birth right now?” Steph asked her in a slightly annoyed tone.

“I’m reminding you to have a little faith, that is being nice, isn’t it?” Carol replied in a sarcastic manner with a smirk on her face.

At first, Steph gave her a mocking glare, and Carol just continued smirking before Steph burst out into a bit of laughter, making all three women in the room laugh. Another contraction came, though, making Steph’s laughter die right away and she cried out in pain. All of a sudden, the door nearly slammed open, and Tony came barreling into the room with Rhodey not too far behind him. Tony looked as if he had run a marathon since he was sweating and out of breath. He looked worried for a moment but then he took a big sigh of relief once he realized that Steph was still going through labor and had not given birth to their child yet.

‘ _ I made it! _ ’ he thought happily. Seeing his girlfriend and the mother of his child screaming in pain due to the contractions, he sprang into action, and Carol got out of the way so that Tony could be by Steph’s side.

“I’m here, gorgeous,” Tony said as he threw his suit jacket off and came to her side immediately.

“It is about time you got here,” Steph said to him, “I was afraid you were going to miss this.”

“And miss the opportunity of seeing our child when she is first born. Darlin’, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Steph smiled at that before her face morphed into pain. This time, she felt this contraction was so painful that it made her sit up and gasp.

“Rhodey, go get the doctor!” Steph demanded. “I think it’s coming.”

Rhodey nodded and ran out of the room to go fetch Steph’s gynecologist.

“What can I do?” Tony asked Steph.

“Just hold my hand.”

Tony nodded and he grabbed a hold of her hand, but not before turning his watch into a gauntlet. He knew full well that Steph’s super strength would crush his hand and break his bones if he didn’t wear it while she was in labor. It wasn’t long when Rhodey came back with Steph’s gynecologist who checked her cervix again.

“You are fully dilated, Captain Rogers, you are now ready to push.”

Steph felt herself become anxious as she realized that her child was ready to be born in this world and that she and Tony were about to become parents. Tony must have realized this too, for he was giving her an excited but anxious look as well. This was also the part where Steph had heard so much about and how painful it was going to be, and she was scared and not looking forward to this part. Tony must’ve seen how anxious she was, for he leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips.

“Don’t worry, I will be right beside you,” he whispered. “You got this.”

“Colonel Rhodes, Ms. Danvers, I’m going to ask you to step outside of the room,” Steph’s gynecologist said to Rhodey and Carol. “Four will be a crowd with the nurses in here, and Captain Rogers requested for only Mr. Stark and Ms. Maximoff to be in here.”

Both Avengers nodded in understanding and wished Steph luck, walking out of the room. Although Rhodey appeared reluctant as he wanted to be there for the birth of his godchild, he knew that Steph wanted only Tony and Wanda to be in here when that happened. She wanted it to be a private special moment for her and Tony, and Wanda because she wanted that extra female support. Steph had gotten really close with Wanda during the span of her pregnancy, and she had chosen Wanda to be that extra support. After Rhodey had left with a bit of nudging from Carol, the gynecologist and the nurses instructed Steph to sit up, and she sat up straight on the bed with the help of Tony and Wanda.

“Alright, Captain Rogers, the next time a contraction hits, I want you to push as hard as you can,” the gynecologist instructed. “And when I say breath and relax, you do that, okay?”

Steph only nodded in response.

It was then she felt the intense pain of a contraction again and she pushed down with all of her might, nearly screaming and holding onto Tony and Wanda’s hands as she did, only resting when her gynecologist instructed her to do so. She did this a few more times, and it was by her fifth time pushing that Steph had laid back against the bed, sweating from the exertion and so tired from having to push. And she was also in pain, so much pain that she would rather be blasted by a bunch of alien ray guns or shot by bullets ten times over than feel this kind of pain.

“I see the head, Captain Rogers, you’re almost there!”

“You hear that, gorgeous, you’re almost done!” Tony said to her, trying to encourage her. “You’re doing great, you just got to keep on pushing.”

As much as Steph was grateful for Tony’s encouragement and wanted to keep going, she felt as if she could not take this kind of pain anymore and was ready to quit. It was a first because Stephanie Rogers  _ never _ quits!

“I-I can’t do this anymore, it hurts too much!” she cried out all of a sudden.

“ _ What?! _ You’re giving up?”

“I can’t do this, Tony! It hurts! It hurts more than I can bear!”

“Now, don’t you dare quit on me, Stephanie Grace Rogers! The Stephanie Rogers I know is not a quitter, she has pushed through even when she was too tired to go on or was the last person standing and always said ‘I can do this all day’, and I’ll be damned before I let you quit on me! You are stronger than any other person that I know, even without the serum, so I know you can do this! Also, our child is not giving you much of a choice, she’s coming whether you want to or not.”

It was all the push Steph needed in order to keep on pushing. Indicating for Tony and Wanda to help her sit up, they both helped her so that she was sitting back up on the hospital bed, and she held onto their hands, bracing herself for another contraction.

“Okay, Captain Rogers, on the count of three…one, two, three,  _ push! _ ”

Steph pushed with all of her might until she was told to rest. She did this a couple more times, feeling the baby’s body come out half-way through her vagina and feeling so much pain as she did that it was making her scream, and she finally rested once more when her gynecologist instructed her to.

“Alright, Captain Rogers, I just need this one last push and then your baby is here!”

“You hear that, Steph? Our baby is almost here, you just got to do this one last push!” Tony encouraged her.

Steph responded with a glare and said, “I am making you wear a condom the next time you touch me.”

“Sure thing, Cap,” Tony replied with a bit of a laugh.

“Are you ready, Captain Rogers?” the gynecologist asked her, and the latter nodded. “Alright then, one, two, three,  _ push! _ ”

Steph pushed with all her might and she screamed so loud at the pain that she was pretty sure that the whole facility could hear her, even her teammates who were waiting outside of the room for their niece or nephew to be born. It was then that she felt the pressure from below immediately go away, and she laid back on the bed in immense relief. It was just in that moment that the room was pierced with the sound of a baby crying, and the doctor holds up the baby in a towel for Tony and Steph to see the crying, red face of their newborn with dark hair on top of it’s head. Seeing that just made Tony and Steph smile, and tears of joy began to run down their cheeks.

“You did it, Steph, you did it! I’m so proud of you!” Tony said to her as he kissed her on the mouth in between his words.

Steph had felt such immense joy at meeting her child for the first time, but also felt so relieved that the worst part was over. Now, she got to enjoy this special moment of meeting her child for the first time with Tony at her side. Everyone in the room was so happy that even Wanda was crying tears of joy. After letting Tony do the honors of cutting the umbilical cord, the nurse handed the baby over to Steph all wrapped up in a blanket now.

“Congratulations on your healthy baby girl,” the nurse said.

Steph felt herself become speechless as she realized that she and Tony had a beautiful baby girl and that almost everyone predicted correctly that she was having a girl. She held her now newborn baby girl against her chest and more tears of joy streamed down her face. She looked up at Tony and could see the tears of joy running down his face, looking at both her and his now little girl with such a loving gaze that it was overwhelming.

“She is just so beautiful,” he whispered as he looked down at his little girl, caressing the top of her head with his thumb. “Didn’t I tell you that we would have a girl?”

“You did,” Steph replied to him before speaking directly to her daughter. “Hi, precious, it’s your mommy and this right here is your daddy.”

Their little girl, who was now no longer crying, was now looking up at her parents. From what they could see, the baby had a set of blue eyes and just seeing that made the new parents’ hearts melt.

“She’s got your eyes,” Tony said to Steph in a blissful tone as he stared down at his daughter.

“She’s got your hair and ears too,” Steph replied.

“Hopefully, she takes after her mother more,” Wanda said in a bit of a teasing tone.

“Hey, I resent that!”

Everyone in the room just laughed at that before turning their attention back to Steph and Tony’s baby girl.

Words cannot describe the joy Steph was feeling: to be surrounded by those she loved and to hold her little girl in her arms for the first time, it was something that can’t be described, only felt. She did not think it was possible, but to see her daughter in her arms made Steph realize that this was real, and she was just so incredibly happy about it, especially since she was able to share this moment with Tony. Looking up at Tony, she could see that he was happy too, for he was giving both his now two favorite girls in the world a grateful and proud smile. It made her wish that this feeling and this moment would last forever. For now, she just enjoyed it with Tony and all her friends before she finally took a very long and well-deserved rest.

* * *

The world had gone abuzz and social media was blowing up when everyone had learned that Steph had gone into labor and that is the reason for Tony’s sudden departure down in Miami. When a spokesperson for the Avengers’ confirmed that Steph was indeed going into labor, everyone had gotten excited and were anxiously waiting for the news of Captain America and Iron Man’s child. Word did eventually reach to the public that their child had arrived, and everyone who loved the Avengers celebrated, but now some people were wondering if the baby was a boy or girl.

While people were waiting anxiously to know, Steph was resting. All the rest of the Avengers had come in for a moment or two to meet the little one, and Rhodey, who hardly ever cried, had shed tears of joy when he met his goddaughter for the first time and he was reluctant to let her go. It was a joyous moment for the Avengers, but Steph was also very tired, having just given birth and wanting to rest. With the help of Bruce, Steph’s gynecologist had ushered everyone out so that Steph could get some rest. Steph had given birth in the afternoon, and she had fallen asleep in the early evening, but she was so tired from giving birth that she slept throughout the whole night until the next morning. Tony had let her, believing that she deserved it after giving birth to his child, and he bonded with his child as she did.

From the moment he laid eyes on his daughter, he fell in love with her. He could definitely see the resemblance of Steph in his daughter with her blue eyes and her face, but Steph was right, she had his hair color and his ears.

He just could not believe that he was now a father and created something so beautiful. He has invented many things, but this was by far the most beautiful thing he has ever created. And yes, he was fully aware of how sappy and corny that sounded, but he meant it and truly believed it: his daughter was the most beautiful thing he and Steph had ever created. Also, he knew that Steph was stronger than him or any other man ten times over, but to see the level of strength it took for her to push their child out of her body, he will never again question the strength of a woman—superhuman or not—never ever.

While Steph slept, Tony held his daughter in his arms, and she slept most of the time and hardly made such a huge fuss, which was good for him, he did not want to wake Steph as he wanted to give her time to rest and wanted to bond with his daughter a little bit. At one point, he was caressing his daughter’s face and that is when his daughter grabbed a hold of one of his fingers and held onto it rather tightly, making Tony laugh.

“You got a strong grip there, little one,” he whispered to his daughter. “Are you gonna be strong like your mommy? Or are you gonna invent stuff like your daddy? I hope you grow up to be like your mom…”

The little one did not quite have a name yet, for throughout Steph’s pregnancy, Tony and Steph could not agree on a name for a girl. Steph wanted to name her after her mother and Tony with his own. It was not until Steph was visited by someone that she was able to come up with a name, one that both her and Tony finally agreed to. Tony had fallen asleep on the couch that was in the room with the baby and Steph sleeping in their beds. Steph had woken up in the early morning when she noticed a figure standing over her daughter. She sat up in alarm when she saw that, ready to fight off whoever tried to harm her daughter even if she was still weak from giving birth, only to relax when she recognized the person that was standing over and looking down at her daughter.

“I’m so glad you are here, I was worried you weren’t going to come,” she said to the person.

Natasha Romanoff just smiled at her and said, “And miss the chance of seeing my beautiful niece? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

She looked back down at Steph’s daughter and gave her an affectionate smile, reaching a hand out and laying her palm gently against the baby’s chest over the blanket that she was covered in.

“She’s beautiful, you and Tony must be very proud. Hey, precious, it’s your Auntie Tasha, I am sure your mommy and daddy will tell you plenty of stories about me and your Aunt Pepper too.”

Steph watched Natasha fawn over her daughter with a small smile on her face, but seeing that also reminded her of the reality that Natasha wasn’t able to do that for real. It brought some tears to her eyes, overcome with sadness all of a sudden. Natasha eventually noticed this when she looked back up at her and saw the tears in Steph’s eyes, her smile morphing into a concerned frown.

“Steph, are you alright?” she asked as she came and sat down right next to Steph on her bedside.

“I just wish you were actually here to meet her,” Steph replied.

“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I? That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“You know what I mean, Natasha.”

Natasha did know what Steph meant, she was just trying to keep the mood light. She gave Steph a sad and understanding look.

“You would have been a great godmother to her,” Steph said.

“I know, but I know that Maximoff will be just as great.”

“I don’t doubt it, but it doesn’t make me miss you any less.”

Natasha said nothing at first, she just stared at Steph for a moment and finally grabbed a hold of her hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb in a comforting way. The gesture was so soothing to Steph that it eased her heartache at the loss of her very best friend a little bit, even though she knew that Natasha’s presence wasn’t real. It was just a figment of her imagination, her subconscious’ own way to try to cope with her loss.

“I miss you too and I wish there was more I could have said and done before I died, but I don’t regret what I did,” Natasha said. “I sacrificed myself so that you guys could have a future, so that the birth of yours and Tony’s child was possible where she was surrounded by all her crazy aunts and uncles as she grows up.”

Steph laughed at that, wiping some tears away that escaped from her eyes.

“She will have so many aunts and uncles to spoil her.”

“That she will,” Natasha said. “Have you and Tony finally agreed on a name yet? She can’t go on being nameless, ya know.”

“No,” Steph said with a roll of her eyes. “You know how Tony and I can be: can’t agree on anything with neither one of us conceding. He insists on naming her after his mother, but I would like to name her after mine. If not that, maybe something else.”

“You want to name her Sarah?” Natasha asked in a bit of a dubious tone.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Well, if I’m being honest…” Natasha said as she turned around and looked at Steph’s daughter, “she does not look much like a Sarah or a Maria. I can picture her with the middle name Maria, but she just doesn’t look like a Sarah.”

“What do you think I should name her then?” Steph asked her.

“Hmm, I’m not sure, maybe it will come to you in a dream,” Natasha replied.

It was then that Steph looked at her in surprise as though she just had a revelation.

“What did you say?”

“I said, maybe the name will come to you in a dream.”

Suddenly, Steph remembered what Tony said to her about 10 months ago, a day before the Time Heist when she and Tony made up. She recalled him telling her during that time how he had a dream about the two of them having a daughter and naming her Natasha. Looking at her daughter now, she could not help but think how her daughter looked like a Natasha.

“Yeah, I suppose it will,” she said.

Natasha then suddenly got up from the chair, making Steph look at her in surprise.

“Leaving so soon already?” she asked her.

“Yes, but I promise I’ll be back to see you and my beautiful niece,” Natasha said. “I’ll only leave when you are ready to move on.”

Steph nodded in understanding with a bit of a forlorn look in her eyes. She did not really want Natasha to go, but she knew that the latter had to. Before she left, Natasha bent down and pulled Steph into a hug with Steph embracing her back. To feel Natasha embrace her made Steph realize how much she had missed Tasha and wish she was actually here so that Steph could see her and hold her one last time. It brought tears to Steph’s eyes, and it also made her hold onto Natasha a little bit tighter.

“I love you,” Steph whispered in her ear.

“I know, I love you too. Keep watching over Clint for me, will ya?”

With one last goodbye, Natasha left and that is when Steph finally woke up from her dream, feeling the familiar tears on her face after having another dream about Natasha. After realizing that she had been crying, she quickly wiped her tears away and looked to see that Tony was sleeping on the couch with his suit jacket he was using as a blanket on the left side of the room. Looking over at her daughter, Steph could see that she was fast asleep, but she wanted to hold her daughter in her arms; however, Steph was still in a bit of pain from giving birth and could not get up on her own. She would wake up Tony to have him hand their daughter to her, but she wanted to let Tony rest, so she was about to call a nurse when her daughter was suddenly lifted in the air and into her arms as if by magic, to her surprise.

“Figured that would be easier than having to wait for a nurse to come and hand it to you,” came a voice towards the entrance.

Looking to her right side, Steph saw the familiar face of Dr. Stephen Strange that she had not seen in a little over ten months now. She gave him a friendly smile when she saw that it was him and realized that it was him that magically handed her daughter to her.

“Stephen, so good to see you,” Steph said in a low voice so as to not wake both her daughter and Tony. “Thank you, by the way. What brings you here? And how did you manage to get in here and get past the security systems?”

“I may have gotten past it through magical means,” Strange replied in a self-assured tone, making Steph nearly laugh.

“You better hope that Tony does not catch that, he checks the security systems almost every week.”

“I’ll be sure to fix it before I leave. I just wanted to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and Stark. I have helped plenty of women give birth before when I was a resident years ago.”

“Thank you, Stephen, I appreciate that a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” Strange said.

He then looked down at Steph’s daughter who was now slowly waking up, and he smiled down at the newborn fondly when it gave a big yawn.

“She’s beautiful,” he said. “She’s definitely going to grow up and break hearts when she gets older, I can tell. You and Stark will definitely have your hands full.”

Steph smiled at that, but then looked at him in surprise when his words finally registered in her mind.

“Wait, how’d you know about the sex?” she asked. “Tony and I hadn’t made any announcements about it yet.”

“When Stark and I were on Titan almost two years ago now, I used the Time Stone to see in which reality we won against Thanos,” Strange explained. “In the reality where we won, I saw a glimpse of yours and Stark’s future and was able to see her.”

“Well, that explains it then. Were you able to see anything about you and Tony?”

Understanding what Steph was really asking, Strange shook his head no with a bit of a sad and regretful look on his face. At that, Steph sighed in defeat and looked towards Tony’s sleeping figure with an empathetic look on her face. She knew that Tony had blamed Strange for Pepper’s death and even witnessed it, so the Avengers and the mystics did not part on the best of terms as a result.

“One day, Tony will understand and forgive you,” Steph said once she turned her attention back to Strange.

“Stark is right, you really do have a giddy optimism.”

“You should try it some time, my giddy optimism is what keeps me going.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but I don’t really see Stark and I making up in the foreseeable future. Thanks for trying, though…”

Steph only nodded in understanding, feeling a little bit saddened by that. She was sad that the Avengers and the mystics did not part ways on good terms as a result of Tony letting his grief cloud his judgement. She really did like Dr. Stephen Strange and Wong, even if Strange was a little arrogant at times. She could only hope that they make amends some time in the future.

“Anyway, I should be getting back,” Strange suddenly said. “Got some things to do, dimensions and universes to save. I just wanted to congratulate you on your new baby girl.”

“Well, thank you, I appreciate it,” Steph replied, “and I’m sure Tony will appreciate it one day as well.”

Strange only gave her a strained smile as if to say he doubted that last part but chose to remain mum about it. There was a slight noise from the baby as it started fussing, and Steph turned her attention to the baby and shushed it, rocking it to calm her down. It was then that a vase of flowers with a yellow ribbon around the flowers that said “Congratulations” appeared out of thin air before Steph, and Strange levitated it to set it on the table in front of Steph’s bed.

“For you and the baby,” Strange said.

“Thank you, Stephen.”

“You’re welcome.”

Strange finally bid her farewell, opening up a portal before disappearing into the portal. The portal had disappeared, and that is when Tony had finally woken from his slumber, having heard the sound of his daughter (he was gonna have to get used to having a new title now and that was father) fussing. When he heard that, he groaned and stretched before sitting up to check on her only to relax when he saw that Steph was already holding her in her arms.

“Morning.”

“Good morning,” Steph replied, giving him a blissful smile.

“How are my now two beautiful favorite girls?” Tony asked as he walked over, giving Steph a kiss on the lips.

“We’re doing fine, little one is getting fussy, though. Think she might be cold, it is a little chilly in here.”

“Want me to turn on the heater in here for you and the baby?” Tony asked, and Steph nodded. “FRIDAY?”

“Already turning it on right now, Boss, the heat should be kicking in about 10 minutes.”

As the new parents waited for the heat to kick in, both of them stared down at their daughter who they kept on looking at as if it was the beautiful thing in the world. To them, she was. They could not think of anything more beautiful and precious than the little girl that Steph was holding in her arms, and Tony could feel a sense of protectiveness over his child and knew that there was  _ nothing _ that he wouldn’t do to keep her safe. Both her and Steph because they were his family now, and he would do anything to protect his family. He realized as he looked down at Steph holding his daughter in her arms that they still did not have a name for her.

“We still need to name her, ya know?” Tony said to Steph as he lightly caressed his daughter’s forehead. “Have you finally agreed on Maria? I still don’t like the name Sarah, she doesn’t look like a Sarah to me.”

“No, you’re right, she doesn’t,” Steph replied.

She paused for a moment, and it was some time before she spoke up again.

“What about Natasha?”

At this, Tony looked at Steph with a surprised look on his face.

“You mean the one from my dream?” Tony asked, and Steph nodded. “Why?”

“Well, why not? She looks like a Natasha, don’t you think? Plus, she will be named after the strongest person I ever knew, and that is what she is: strong. She is a Stark, after all. So, what do you think? Should we name her Natasha?”

Tony said nothing at first, appearing to think about it, and looked down at his daughter who was flailing her arms everywhere and looking around the room with curious blue eyes. He looked down at her real hard as he thought about the name, and he could not help but think how she looked like a Natasha, it seemed to fit her perfectly. He reached out a hand to her and that is when she grabbed a hold of one of Tony’s fingers, gripping it rather tightly much like she did last night. It made Tony and Steph laugh at that, thinking how cute it was.

“Natasha…” Tony said as if trying it out and seeing how he liked the sound of it. “Lil’ Tasha, I like it, it’s perfect for her. Can her middle name be Maria, though?”

Steph nearly rolled her eyes at that, but relented.

“Fine, but only because Natasha Maria Stark fits better than Natasha Sarah Stark,” she said.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have another daughter in the foreseeable future and you can name her Sarah.”

“Oh, no! I’m not going through that again! One time was enough for me.”

“And here I thought you were the type who could take a hit all day,” Tony said in a teasing tone.

Steph responded by glaring at him, and Tony realized his mistake not too long after that. He did just witness yesterday the level strength it took for Steph to give birth to his child, and here he was making light of it.

“I think I’ll just shut up now.”

“Good idea.”

* * *

It was more than a few days later after Steph had given birth that the public was finally able to know the sex of the baby and see pictures of her. Tony and Steph wanted to bond and get to know their child first before announcing anything, and the world waited anxiously to hear the announcement as they did. It was about a week after Steph gave birth that an announcement was made.

It was Tony who made the announcement, going on one of his social media pages to announce it. Steph did not have any social media accounts since she was a bit old school and did not find any real use for it, and Tony, who had always been very open to the public, had been the one to announce it to the world. He created a poll first, asking the public what they thought the sex of the baby was, and it wasn’t until he had enough answers with a high percentage saying it was a girl that he finally announced it and posted pictures of his baby.

‘ _ You called it! _ ’ the post read. ‘ _ It’s a girl! Everyone, say hello to Natasha Maria Stark, born January 12, 2020. I am a proud papa <3 _ ’

And on the post were a couple of pictures of the baby and of the new parents holding their baby girl. One of the pictures was a picture of just the baby all wrapped up in a blanket with a beanie on top of her head, and curious blue eyes could be seen along with a small turned-up nose and ears that were pointed. Another picture was a picture of Steph holding the baby to her chest and breastfeeding that was in gray and white. The last picture was of Tony holding Natasha in his arms and looking up at the camera with a proud smile on his face.

When the pictures were posted, the entire public went wild with many of their fans gushing over how cute Natasha was with many of them saying that she looked a lot like Steph while others argued and said that the baby actually looked more like Tony. Many people around the world offered their congratulations to the new parents, including the Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross and Agent Everett Ross and T’Challa and his family. Even Steph’s old flame M’Baku sent Steph a gift and offered his congratulations and blessings once he heard the news that she gave birth to a baby girl.

Yes, the whole world was overjoyed at the birth of Natasha Maria Stark, the daughter of the superheroes Stephanie Rogers and Tony Stark. Some were genuinely happy for the new parents while there were those who were happy for nefarious reasons, believing they could make a ton of money selling the child as it was the first superhuman that was born (Half, really, since Tony was not a superhuman). There was one, though, who was not so happy, and he was already plotting to destroy the happy family.

‘ _They will know my pain_ ,’ Zemo swore, and he went to work to plot his revenge against the Avengers once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an fyi, I have never been pregnant myself, I actually based Steph's pregnancy experience through watching two of my best friends go through pregnancy. As far what actually happens during the birthing process, that I was not sure. I was there for almost the entire duration of my bestie's labor except when she became fully dilated. At that point, I was kicked out of her room and had to wait in the waiting room until my goddaughter was born. So, I only know by watching and word of mouth on what it is like.
> 
> Hope you liked this short story. Please leave a heart or a comment, but no flames please.

**Author's Note:**

> So, in this particular series, yes, Pepper Potts did love Tony and while some people would say that she should've fought for Tony, I'm just gonna let some of you know: that is a soap opera/high school shit and I am not for that. Most of the Avengers are grown-ups, and a true mature adult (which Pepper is very well-known for) would understand that the person you love may not love you back. And while that hurts, they understand that there is nothing that can be done about it, but to wish them happiness. You can't make someone love you if they don't feel the same way. Trust me, I have learned this through my own experiences.
> 
> I also didn't really want to show Steph as a jealous and possessive kind of person, I personally found Steve to be very secure within himself that I'd imagine him be very trusting towards his partners, so I decided to implement that within my female Steve Rogers character. I can imagine a female Steve Rogers being secure enough and even being friends with Pepper, even if she once dated Tony.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first chapter, leave a heart or comment if you did.


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